Tottenham striker Emmanual Adebayorhas added fuel to the fire before the big North London derby, by stating that pressure gets to Arsenal.
The striker, who played for the Gunners for three years, before leaving for Manchester City, has experienced a revival under Tim Sherwood.
Adebayor stated to the Daily Mirror, ahead of Sunday’s showdown.
“Arsenal are a good team when they have the ball. When they don’t, they are not that good. When you put them under pressure, they can’t handle it.
“They don’t have a lot of physical presence. Apart from Flamini, I don’t see anyone who puts themselves into a proper battle.
“Rosicky is not that type of player, Cazorla is not the type of player who defends. Arteta is trying to do it, but that’s not his job.
“They don’t have anybody who can say, ‘if I have to kick, I will kick. If we have to fight, I will put myself at the front of it’. That’s how we have to play. Push them and force them to make errors.”
The Togolease striker admits his side have struggled over recent weeks, with Tim Sherwood drilling into his players following last Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Chelsea.
He said: “In some games, some players, including me – I have to include myself – we have lacked that personality. We have lacked that desire and things have gone wrong.
“That’s why we have to look into the mirror and say, ‘OK, I judge myself, I didn’t play well today, but in the next game I will be better’.
“On Sunday I don’t even think we will need a team meeting.
“There are some games where you have to give a little bit of motivation to the players. But we know how good we are at home when it comes to Arsenal and we won’t have to motivate anybody for this game.”
Adebayor added: “The is the game that everybody will be talking about in London from this point,” said the striker, “Tottenham v Arsenal: The north London derby.
“So I cannot see anybody telling me, ‘Manu, you have to run. You have to give 100 per cent’.
“No one will need to tell me that. I know. And people like Aaron Lennon, who has been here for ages, you won’t have to tell players like him anything either. He knows how big it is for the club and the fans. To be honest with you, we are all looking forward to it.”
Tottenham v Arsenal is televised live on Sky.
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
