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Happy Spursday, ladies and gentlemen! Today is the first North London Derby of the 2011-12 English Premier League season, as Tottenham Hotspur take on Arsenal from White Hart Lane. If you're new around these parts, this is your live match thread. Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger have both made some surprising selections, but there's nothing jaw-droppingly crazy in here. Here are the lineups.
Tottenham Hotspur lineup (4-4-2): Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto; Van der Vaart, Parker, Modric, Bale; Adebayor, Defoe
Substitutes from: Cudicini, Bassong, Corluka, Livermore, Sandro, Giovani, Pavlyuchenko
Arsenal lineup (4-3-3): Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Song, Gibbs; Coquelin, Arteta, Ramsey; Walcott, Gervino, Van Persie
Substitutes from: Fabianski, Andre Santos, Jenkinson, Frimpong, Arshavin, Benayoun, Park
Sandro has been dropped for Jermain Defoe, and I assume that means that Luka Modric will play in the center of midfield, while Rafael van der Vaart goes to the right. I'm not sure I totally agree with the move, but Rafa on the right worked perfectly in last year's fixture, so who am I to argue? I'm also surprised that Wenger has picked Francis Coquelin over Emmanuel Frimpong.
Kickoff is at 4:00 pm local, 11:00 am ET. You can catch the game on FOX Soccer Channel in the USA, Sky Sports 1 in the UK, and Setanta Sports in Canada. Should you choose to watch the game via alternative means, please discuss that in private. COYS!