Former Tottenham star Sandro has backed Micky van de Ven to lock down and ‘control’ Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres in Sunday’s north London derby.
Arsenal head into tomorrow’s showdown top of the Premier League with Thomas Frank’s side eight points adrift in fifth place. Spurs have not beaten their arch-rivals since May 2022, losing their last three derbies on the bounce.
Tottenham remain heavily hit by injuries but do have their fearsome partnership at the heart of defence back in place with van de Ven and Cristian Romero set to start at the Emirates.
Van de Ven in particular has been in exquisite form this season, chipping in with six goals in all competitions.
Arsenal meanwhile will hope to have Gyokeres available after a recent injury to do battle with the Spurs duo with former Premier League star Sandro relishing the physical battle.
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Sandro is a big admirer of Gyokeres, declaring him a ‘fighter’ who will be able to give as good as he gets against Romero. He is also confident that despite the knock he picked up earlier this month, the Sweden international will be fit for the derby clash.
But up against the lightning quick van de Ven, the Brazilian believes there will only be one winner.
‘Sandro, speaking to Metro via Eskil Raknes at Kongebonus said: ‘Gyokeres will be fit for this game. Gyokeres is a player that works very, very hard for the team. I saw him here in Portugal and he can run! He can run, he will give everything for the team.
‘But I think Romero is an intelligent defender, he’s strong and he’s a winner. Van de Ven is fast enough to control him, fast enough to control him in the deep.
‘Gyokeres is a fighter. He will fight with Romero all game long, you’re going to see that. They will be 100% fighting throughout this match, because I see two players that want to fight. Romero will be there to fight for everything. Every single ball, he’s going to throw his head in. Gyokeres will also push Romero, I’m so excited to watch them battle.
‘This could be a very important game for us to change our momentum. If we can win this game, it could be a game changer for the period ahead.’
Arsenal were on a run of 10 straight victories conceding just one goal before dropping points at Sunderland prior to the international break.
While the Gunners will be desperate to secure a win to maintain their lead at the top, Sandro expects his old side to spring a surprise.
‘When you talk about Arsenal and Tottenham, I just want Tottenham to win, 100% of the time,’ he said.
‘But to try to guess is very tough because Arsenal are doing a good job at the moment. Arsenal are in good shape but I think Spurs will win 1-0.’