Pochettino still wary of Arsenal firepower despite Alexis injury
TOTTENHAM manager Mauricio Pochettino insists Arsenal will not miss injured leading scorer Alexis Sanchez in tomorrow’s north London derby.
Sanchez has scored 18 goals in 32 Gunners matches since his £30m summer transfer from Barcelona but has failed to recover from a hamstring injury in time for the trip to White Hart Lane.
“Arsenal have other players, like Welbeck, Giroud, Walcott or Ozil – a lot of names,” he said. “It’s true Alexis is a very good player, but I think Arsenal have players to replace him.”
Fit-again forward Danny Welbeck is back in the squad for the first time this year while Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott all netted in last week’s 5-0 home rout of Aston Villa – Arsenal’s fifth win in a row.
Tottenham, too, are in form, with nine wins from their last 14 games, and Pochettino believes they have improved since a 1-1 draw in the away fixture in September.
“I think we’ve improved. We are in a good process,” he added. “We know it’s a different game, we play at White Hart Lane. We know it’s a special game for our fans and we have to show we want to get the three points from the beginning. We need to improve more, but we have improved from the game against Arsenal.”