Arsenal new boys face derby baptism of fire News

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Arsenal new boys face derby baptism of fire

By Daily Sports on February 8, 2018

New Arsenal signings Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will get an early taste of the north London derby atmosphere when they face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Saturday.

The pair enjoyed comfortable home debuts in last weekend's 5-1 rout of Everton but their local rivals are sure to provide tougher opposition as the two teams continue their bids for Champions League qualification.

Spurs are fifth in the table, four points ahead of sixth-placed Arsenal, one behind fourth-placed Chelsea and two adrift of third-placed Liverpool with 12 games left.

Arsenal outplayed Tottenham in a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium in November but Spurs have every reason to be confident having soundly beaten second-placed Manchester United and drawn 2-2 at Liverpool in their last two games.

Liverpool travel to St Mary’s on Sunday to face a Southampton side who ended a 12-match winless run in the league and climbed two points clear of the relegation zone with a 3-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion in their last match.

Chelsea, meanwhile, will welcome bottom club West Brom to Stamford Bridge on Monday on the back of losing 3-0 at home to Bournemouth and 4-1 away to Watford.

The results prompted widespread speculation that manager Antonio Conte would be sacked, but it appears that Chelsea’s board are prepared to give the Italian time to arrest the champions’ slump.

Another blip against West Brom, who have won only three times this season and sit four points from safety, would almost certainly put Conte back on the brink of losing his job.

Leaders Manchester City have the chance to bounce back from being held to a 1-1 draw by Burnley when they host eighth-placed Leicester City on Saturday.

•Photo shows Aubemeyang.

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 8, 2018