Tottenham host Arsenal in the first north London derby of the season on Sunday with Declan Rice set to miss out.
The Gunners won their opening two games of the new Premier League season but were held to a 1-1 draw in a bad-tempered clash with Brighton last Saturday.
Rice was sent off in what is already a leading candidate to be the most controversial decision of the season that afternoon, given a second booking after delaying the restart before being clattered himself by Joel Veltman.
It serves as a huge blow for Mikel Arteta who is also without new signing Mikel Merino. The Spain midfielder completed his move to north London in the final week of the summer transfer window but was injured in his very first training session with the club after a collision with Gabriel Magalhaes.
Merino has suffered a fractured shoulder with Arsenal expecting him to be unavailable until after the next international break in mid-October.
It leaves the Arsenal manager with the option of Jorginho to come into the side to join Martin Odegaard and Thomas Partey in midfield.
Raheem Sterling is pushing to make his debut with a week of training with his new side under his belt. Gabriel Martinelli has struggled to make an impact so far this season with Leandro Trossard’s best work to date coming off the bench.
Arteta has been eager for his deadline day signing to get involved ‘as soon as possible’ and will hope he can have some role to play this weekend.
Arsenal have been without injured duo Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney for the start of the season with Gabriel Jesus joining the absentee list, missing the games against Aston Villa and Brighton with a groin injury.
Arteta is expected to provide a latest injury update on the Brazil international later this week but appeared confident his forward had avoided a lengthy spell on the sidelines when he spoke before the Brighton game.
The Gunners boss has been made to sweat during the international break with Riccardo Calafiori involved in a nasty collision with France’s Ousmane Dembele on Friday.
The Italy international received treatment for a calf injury on the pitch before being replaced. While Azzurri boss Luciano Spalletti suggested there was no serious injury, Calafiori left the squad over the weekend to return to his club for further assessment.
Martin Odegaard meanwhile came off with a knock against Brighton but eased any fears after joining up with the Norway squad.
Tottenham meanwhile will hope to have Micky van de Ven available. The Netherlands international started the first two games of the season but missed the defeat at Newcastle United after being deemed ‘not quite 100 per cent’ by Ange Postecoglou, missing Nations League games as a result.
The Spurs boss insisted the knock was ‘nothing serious’, a precautionary measure perhaps given the packed fixture list over the next few weeks.
Dominic Solanke’s situation is less clear. An ankle injury on his debut against Leicester City has seen him miss the last two games. Poestecoglou however did suggest his £65million signing was close to being fit for the Newcastle game and could have a role to play in this weekend’s derby.
‘Dom is close but we’re going to be a bit cautious with him, we’ve got a big programme post the international break, so he’ll miss out on Sunday,’ Postecoglou said.
Richarlison meanwhile remains sidelined.
Predicted Tottenham XI to face Arsenal
Viacario, Porro, van de Ven, Romero, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Kulusevski, Son, Odobert.
Predicted Arsenal XI to face Tottenham
Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel. Timber, Odegaard, Partey, Jorginho, Saka, Havertz, Trossard
Where to watch Man Utd vs Liverpool? Kick-off time and TV channel
Tottenham vs Arsenal kicks off at 2pm on Sunday 15 September.
