Spurs came out on top when these two sides last met in December, with Heung-min Son and Harry Kane scoring in a 2-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but the Gunners have a great record in this fixture at home, being undefeated in 24 of their last 26 home matches against Spurs in all competitions.
A win for Mikel Arteta’s side would see them close the gap on Spurs in the league table, reducing the gap to four points, whilst a win for Jose Mourinho’s men will see them go just two points behind Chelsea in the race for a top four place.
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So, what line up will Arteta go with against Spurs? And, what lineup could Mourinho go with against the Gunners?
Ahead of the game, we used FIFA 21 to find out all of the above,
To set up this simulation, we used kick-off mode within FIFA 21 but didn’t select a team to control; we then selected the teams and watched the match play out by itself, to give us a prediction.
The AI difficulty was set to world class, with the line-up updated with the latest transfers, injuries and suspensions.
We anticipated that Arsenal could set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the line-up as follows: Leno; Bellerin, Luiz, Mari, Tierney; Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Smith Rowe, Willian; Aub
In our FIFA 21 simulation, Arsenal were the team on top in the first-half, having the majority of the possession and chances.
The Gunners got into a number of dangerous positions in the opening stages, but with Spurs defending deep, they failed to capitalise.
That was until the 19th minute, when a brilliant piece of play from Emile Smith-Rowe lead to the opening goal.
The Arsenal youngster recieved the ball on the half-turn, drove towards the Spurs area and threaded a brilliant pass into the path of Pierre-Emerick Aubamyang, who produced a great finish to make it 1-0.
But Spurs were still in the game at this stage, albeit they weren’t showing too much ambition going forwards.
In fact, the away side’s only real chance of the first-half came in the 41st minute, with Gareth Bale getting on the end of a corner-kick delivery, but his looping header flew just over Bernd Leno’s crossbar, who had it covered in any case.
In the second-half, Spurs had to open up and go for it a bit more, particularly as they were trailing in such a massive game.
But Jose Mourinho’s side were finding it hard to create any real chances, with the home side keeping the ball well, albeit not really creating any chances themselves.
Finally though, Spurs got their equaliser after a stunning break in the 81st minute, with Tanguy Ndombele creating the goal. The Tottenham midfielder beat a few Arsenal defenders before playing pass into Harry Kane, who finished with aplomb to make it 1-1.
The last few minutes were scrappy and in the end, both teams settled for a point.
Predicted FIFA 21 score: Arsenal 1-1 Spurs
FIFA 21 predicts that the North London derby could end up in a score draw, with Aubameyang and Kane both getting on the scoresheet in a fairly even contest.
