Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal will both feel like their respective seasons are on the line in their North London Derby on Sunday. If Spurs don't win, they can kiss any chance at finishing top four goodbye. If Arsenal fail to win, their chances of challenging for the title get very slim, especially if Liverpool avoid a loss earlier in the day.
Arsenal recently advanced to the FA Cup semifinals, but their performance in other competitions has been less than satisfactory. Bayern Munich knocked them out of the Champions League for the second straight season and they've only won once in their last four games in the league. Their last match was an extremely disappointing 1-0 loss to Stoke City.
But as unconvincing as Arsenal have been lately, Spurs are infinitely worse, and it's now far to call them a tire fire. They were very poor in recent losses to Chelsea and Benfica, and Tim Sherwood has taken to criticizing his players for a lack of character, despite his bizarre team selections and bad refereeing decisions going against them. A win over Arsenal could change a lot for Spurs and Sherwood, but a home loss to their rivals could send them into a serious tailspin.
We covered team news yesterday, and it's not great for either team. Kyle Walker being a doubt is Spurs' biggest problem, while Arsenal will be disappointed that Aaron Ramsey is not ready to make his long-awaited return from injury.
The game kicks off at 4 p.m. local time, 12 p.m. ET from White Hart Lane. Yep, the United States is still an hour closer to Europe than usual. You can catch the game on Sky Sports 1 in the U.K., NBC Sports Network in the United States and Sportsnet World in Canada.