Arsenal vs. Tottenham: Combined XI ahead of North London derby

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LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 22: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Middlesbrough at Emirates Stadium on October 22, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) /

Attacking Midfield

Once again, another area of the team where both clubs can boast some major talents to choose from. The formation is a 4-2-3-1, so we need three players to play behind the one striker. First up, it’s Mesut Ozil.

Is there a better playmaker in the Premier League than Mesut Ozil? If there is, there’s not many up there with the German. Strangely, Ozil only has one assist to his name so far this season, but the playmaker has scored three goals.

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Ozil dished out 19 assists last season, as the 28-year-old proved he is among the very best creative players around. This season has started off no differently, despite the difference in assist numbers.

Ozil will take up the number 10 spot in this XI, and to the right of him will be Theo Walcott. Walcott was a right winger for a number of years, but then decided to be a striker. Now he’s back to being a right winger again, and he’s performing, possibly, the best he has in his career to date.

Walcott has always been good for a goal in his time at Arsenal, but the winger has five goals in the Premier League already this season. For a wide player, that’s exceptional. Can he keep it up? Only time will tell. But he’s not in this XI for his future, it’s thanks to his fantastic start to this season.

On the left wing will be Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi. Iwobi has forced his way into the Gunners team despite all the talent Wenger has at his disposal. The Nigerian first broke into the first team last season, and is tied as the club’s top assists leader with three assists.

So, the attacking trio behind the lone striker are exclusively Arsenal players. Spurs had the likes of Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Moussa Sissoko and Son Heung-min to choose from. But none of these are in better form right now than any Arsenal player that was selected.

Spurs struggle to score goals, whereas Arsenal are scoring for fun in most games. It’s clear which team currently has the most in-form attackers and creators.

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