Tottenham vs Arsenal: Sunday's North London Derby 'The Biggest For 20 Years'
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has urged his side to double down on their attacking philosophy despite facing a team with the best defensive record in the league this season.
He said: "It's just about making sure you embrace the challenge and try to tackle it in the way that got us into this position in the first place.
"From our perspective we've had some inconsistencies and challenges this year, but when we've played well we've played a certain way and gone about things in a certain way.
"There's no point now when you get to the most important part of the year to shy away from that or change your approach.
"You've got to double down on it and focus on playing our football. That's a great measure for us because otherwise you'll never know where you're short or whether you can be successful in doing it our way."
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta wants his players to put their north London rivalry with Tottenham to one side and focus on the job at hand.
"We played there a few times already and it's a great place to play football," he said.
"We have to put the rivalry aside and we have to live the game with passion and the intensity that it demands rather than anything special because the game has everything you need to enjoy it."
Remarkably, Arsenal have played four matches since Tottenham last kicked a ball - losing to Aston Villa and Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final but beating Wolves and Chelsea to stay top.
However, Arteta does not want to use fixture congestion as an excuse heading into one of the most important north London derbies in recent history.
The Spaniard said: "For sure we're going to be fully ready. We have a bit of time to recover and prepare from the Chelsea game and I'm sure we're going to be fully ready to go again on Sunday.
"I love the fact that we played four games. We had some great experiences. It's been a really demanding week.
"We had some great results in the last two. That's boosted the confidence of everybody. We're in a good place."
Back in November, when Kai Havertz was struggling to convince following his £65m arrival from Chelsea, most Arsenal fans would not have believed you if you had told them how much and how quickly his fortunes, and their perceptions of him, would change.
On Tuesday night, in the aftermath of a 5-0 win over his former side in which Havertz scored twice to send Arsenal three points clear, the Emirates Stadium reverberated to the sound of Shakira's 'Waka Waka', sung in honour of a player emerging as an unlikely hero.
It was quite a scene. The chant has been aired with increasing regularity since his first goal for the club, a penalty at Bournemouth in September. But never with quite this much gusto.
Many doubted him. Mikel Arteta did not. That much was clear in how much he used him even in those awkward early months. Havertz has now featured in all but one of Arsenal's 34 Premier League fixtures. He played in all 10 of their Champions League games, starting nine.
After their humbling at Newcastle two weeks ago, Tottenham are looking to bounce back in style from the 4-0 defeat at St James' Park - and so is defender Micky van de Ven.
The Dutchman - signed from Wolfsburg last summer in a £43m deal - had a rare off day on Tyneside after his slips led to Newcastle's opening two goals.
But the 23-year-old, who will be experiencing his first home north London derby, will want to put that performance behind him and show why he has emerged as one of the Premier League's standout defenders this season, as proven by metrics provided by Raiola Global Management's Insight Team.
Van de Ven has excelled in capitalising on opposition mistakes and initiate swift counterattacks for Spurs with 0.45 counter-pressure regains per 90 minutes, while Postecoglou's side perform considerably better with the centre-back in the side this season.
Van de Ven has also been influential with the ball at his feet - he is averaging 0.36 successful dribbles per 90 and 50.3 carries per 90, highlighting his importance in driving Spurs forward from deep positions.
His passing accuracy is key in orchestrating attacks too, boasting a 95 per cent pass accuracy and an 82 per cent accuracy in long passes, while his 85 per cent accuracy in pressured passes underlines his composure under duress.
But Van de Ven's most eye-catching attribute is his pace after he recently made Premier League history by clocking a lightning speed of 37.38 km/h - the fastest player ever recorded in the competition's history.
Spurs need Van de Ven firing on all cylinders on Sunday if they are to beat their fierce rivals.
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