Rafael van der Vaart is backing his old side Tottenham to do a job on an injury-hit Arsenal in today’s north London derby.
After winning their opening two games of the new Premier League season, the Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw with Brighton on a wild afternoon at the Emirates where Declan Rice was given a controversial red card.
The England international misses the derby as a result, along with Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard who was helped off the pitch with an ankle injury while playing for Norway during the international break.
Mikel Arteta is also without the services of new signing Mikel Merino, who suffered a fractured shoulder in his very first training session with the club that is likely to keep him sidelined until October.
Those setbacks have ravaged the club’s midfield option with Thomas Partey, who has played every minute of the season so far, the last man standing. Jorginho is expected to come into the side this afternoon with Arteta facing a dilemma over who to bring in to join the pair in the middle of the park.
Van der Vaart spent just two years at Tottenham between 2010 and 2012. But his derby day exploits made him a cult hero among Spurs fans, scoring four times in his three starts against the Gunners – registering a goal and two assists in their famous 3-2 fightback at the Emirates in 2010.
With Arsenal missing the ‘heartbeat of their team’ in Odegaard, the Dutchman is backing his old side to get the victory.
‘For Tottenham it is great news,’ van der Vaart told Metro.co.uk.
‘Odegaard is the heartbeat. How he has developed the last few years, it is fantastic. Also he has the right coach for that. But Tottenham now have a big chance with the whole midfield gone, the heartbeat is gone. If they were ever to have a chance, it is now.
‘They’ve started the season well, they have played nice football, have good players and they are difficult to beat. It will be a nice season for Tottenham, that is my feeling.
‘I am going for a Tottenham win. It will be a good day for them. They are strong at the minute, especially in midfield where Arsenal are missing all those players. My feeling is they win.’
Van der Vaart gives verdict on Dominic Solanke transfer
Tottenham will hope to have Dominic Solanke fit and ready having suffered an ankle injury against Leicester City in their opening game of the season.
The England striker, who scored 21 times for Bournemouth last season, made the move to the capital in a £65million deal – an ‘unbelievable’ fee for a player van der Vaart believes will struggle to justify that price tag.
‘I have a lot of problems with the money these days especially in England,’ he said. ‘For really, really normal players, you guys pay 50, 60 million pounds. It is unbelievable.
‘So when I see a transfer for that money, I already think it is unwise. Because I don’t believe Solanke gets 40 goals. For that money that is what you should be looking for. It is too much for a normal player.
‘Players in England playing for smaller teams going to bigger teams for crazy money is not wise. But it is what happens and we have to wait and see how they perform.
‘I also know Dominic when he played for Vitesse [on loan from Chelsea during the 2015-16 season]. I thought “ok, good player but nothing special”.
He did well in England and of course naturally the next step is somewhere like Tottenham. But not for that amount of money.’
Rafael van der Vaart was speaking on behalf of BetMGM. Play the new £1million Golden Goals game this season by predicting Premier League scores at https://www.betmgm.co.uk. BeGambleAware 18+