Tottenham take on Arsenal in the North London Derby on Sunday and former Spurs midfielder and manager Tim Sherwood, believes his old side have a much stronger XI
Video Unavailable
Arsenal 3-0 AFC Wimbledon: Mikel Arteta post match
Tim Sherwood believes the only Arsenal players that would make into a combined XI with Tottenham would be Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka.
The Gunners were the top Premier League spenders during the summer window, bringing in six players at a total outlay of almost £150million.
Despite that, Arsenal started the season in dismal fashion, before recording back-to-back wins to help ease the pressure on under-fire boss Mikel Arteta.
But even with the likes of Martin Odegaard, Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale all arriving for fees higher than £20m, Sherwood thinks Spurs have a clear edge in terms of quality.
Ahead of this weekend’s North London derby, the former Spurs boss was asked to compile a combined team and could only find space for two Arsenal players.
He exclusively told Ladbrokes at its launch of the 5-A-Side bet on Arsenal v Spurs: “Out of a combined XI, Tierney certainly gets in, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang I’m not sure because he’s not been great, I still think Son [Heung-min] and [Harry] Kane are the two strikers up there.
“You’d have to have Saka in there but really it’s a poor bunch to be honest.
“No one is standing out for me as the rest are still developing at Arsenal. [Martin] Odegaard will be a good player; he scored a fantastic free kick at the weekend but it’s not easy to pick a combined XI.”
And when it came to who he’d have in the dugout, Sherwood admitted that he wasn’t enamoured with either Arteta or Nuno Espirito Santo.
Nuno had got off to a perfect start having left Wolves at the end of last season, but 3-0 defeats to Crystal Palace and Chelsea in the last two, mean he is now under scrutiny as well.
Sherwood added that while he isn’t a fan of Nuno’s more pragmatic style of play, it could help Spurs get the result their fans are so desperate for.
He continued: “Who would I pick out of the two managers? Well, I don’t particularly like both styles of play so it’s difficult to choose.
“I know Mikel is trying hard to play his style with the slow build up from the back and Nuno likes the opposition to have the ball, so you’re talking about a real contrast of styles.
“If Arsenal are not in this game and if I’m Nuno I’m going back to what he knows best, and I’m not criticising Nuno as there’s no right or wrong way to play the game, but it’s what people prefer, and he’s always played that way.”
