Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur contest the second North London Derby of the season on Sunday, but both clubs may not be at full strength. After talking about concerns in Arsenal's defense yesterday, today Kevin McCauley of Cartilage Free Captain and I discuss Emmanuel Adebayor, and how his absence may affect Spurs' attack.

Adebayor is doubtful at best for the Derby, but Rafael van der Vaart says he's ready to go. Personally, I'd rather face the Ducthman with any combination of strikers not named Adebayor, whose physicality seems most dangerous for the type of defenders we have at the club. Anyhow, Kevin and I discuss different combinations and how Adebayor has looked this season. Tomorrow, we'll talk about something else really cool, so don't worry your pretty head over it.

For more on Tottenham, visit Cartilage Free Captain, and nowhere else, folks.

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Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur clash this Sunday in the season's second North London Derby, and both teams are having some issues. Kevin McCauley over at Cartilage Free Captain, who's also World Soccer Editor at SBNation, has Skype. I have Skype. We decided to put together some 10-15 minute audio snippets covering different topics ahead of the match this weekend for your listening pleasure.

First up is a discussion of Laurent Koscielny's injury, how likely it is that he play this weekend, and who is likely to join up with him in the back four. We also talk about the possible impact of defensive injuries for how the midfield might shape up and what different tactical problems this might raise for Arsene Wenger.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about Spurs and their own injury issues in attack, so it'll probably be less painful for you all to think about. I miss Per.

The audio file is below.

Left click to open in browser; right click to download. Enjoy.

Saturday's game, while an interesting tactical battle, was covered fairly well in the relevant episode of Fusillade. In order to not be redundant, we're using a pictoral/chalkboard analysis to supplement what was said in Fusillade. You don't have to listen to Fusillade in order to understand this; vice/versa, you don't have to read this to understand what we said on Fusillade, but they're just nice complimentary pieces.

Despite playing 120 minutes on Wednesday, Sunderland were energetic in the opening stages of Saturday's match. Offensively, they lacked an outball with the dimunitive Stephane Sessegnon playing through the middle and Frazier Campbell up against Thomas Vermaelen on their right, but defensively they were organised superbly, much like how Arsenal played against Barcelona a year ago (is it really a year? Wow).

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Poor Theo Walcott. All he wants to do is play through the middle and fulfill the absurdly high expectations set when he made his £9.1m move from Southampton to Arsenal at the tender age of 16. Selected for the 2006 World Cup before kicking a ball in the Premier League, the sky was the limit for Walcott; however, he, thus far, hasn't reached those sorts of heights. Often, he is accused of having "no football brain" (by a man who cannot pronounce 'penalty' properly), and while his final ball is lacking, and his finishing can be wayward, Walcott can still be an effective player. He's also a player who has undergone two changes in role in the past two seasons. Injured when Arsenal originally deployed a 4-3-3 in 2009-10, he returned when the more static Nicklas Bendtner was the main striker, he began his shift from a more traditional wide player to the inside forward role that would serve him so well the following season, where he scored 13 and assisted 9 in 38 games. This season's switch to a more direct 3 strikers style of play has seen Walcott combine his two previous roles, of winger and inside forward. It's a combination that can be deadly when perfected, as he has against Blackburn and Chelsea, but when out of sync, Walcott can be an attacking non-factor.

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Editor: This article was planned before news of Jack Wilshere's setback broke.

In recent weeks, Arsenal's midfield has been one of the more overlooked reasons for Arsenal's pointless January. Losing Mikel Arteta was a major blow, and highlighted a severe weakness: Without Areta, Arsenal have no player to drop deep and help Alex Song, nor to help Arsenal when they're under pressure. This has 3 effects, detailed below.

1. Protecting Full Backs

Arsenal's full back crisis has been a major problem, attacking wise, and also, of course, defensively. Not having a solid midfield base exacerbated that problem. When Arsenal morph into a double pivot, it not only helps Arsenal become more solid in the middle, but it also helps Arsenal defending their flanks. Mikel Arteta has often appeared in support of Andre Santos, or other Arsenal left backs, while Alex Song has supported Arsenal's right back. Arteta's replacements, though, in Tomas Rosicky and Yossi Benayoun, do not share his defensive nous.

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It is often said that numbers don't lie, and these numbers are quite frank. Since Andre Santos went off injured against Olympiakos and deprived Arsenal of their last natural full back, Arsenal have played 6 league games, and have scored exactly 6 goals,while conceding 5. This has coincided with Theo Walcott and Gervinho losing form, though there are also other mitigating factors, such as Walcott's illness. Arsenal, though, have missed the attacking support Santos, and to a lesser extent Bacary Sagna, have provided. Arsenal were able to cope with Sagna; losing both, however, has been very problematic.

In the past, both Sagna and former left back Gael Clichy were criticised for their poor crosses and low numbers of assists; while that was undoubtedly true of Clichy, it was harsh on Sagna, and no such criticism can be labeled at Santos, who has already matched Clichy's career goal total in a tenth of the games.

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Tuesday's disappointing draw with Wolves has led to more questions about Arsenal, especially our ability to break teams down. Despite 73% possession, and 26 shots (11 on goal), the Gunners were unable to get past a resolute Wayne Hennessey, and have been unable to capitalise on poor results by Chelsea and Liverpool.

The most exasperating aspect of the whole match, though, was the inability to take chances, and then, late in the second half, create one on one chances against a team with a poor defensive record. Wolves did make it difficult for Arsenal, but did so by employing tactics that many teams have used in the past: Defend with 10 (or 9, once Nenad Milijas was sent off), and prevent Arsenal from passing their way through. The addition of Gervinho and a switch to a more direct, wing-based style of football has made Arsenal better equipped to break teams down, but the fact remains that Arsenal has scored less goals at home than their other rivals in the top 5.

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Arsenal should've come away with an easy victory against Everton given the amount of chances that they had in the first half, but, as we've seen in recent years, were unable to take them. Everton changed their strategy in the second half and made it difficult for Arsenal, and were beginning to come into the game before Alex Song's wonderful pass lead to van Persie's, well, amazing volley.

Here are some tactical observations from last night.

Everton's Defensive Strategy

David Moyes and other Premier League managers would've watched Arsenal's Champions League performance with interest. Instead of being the extremely attacking and passing side that they'd come to expect from Arsenal in Europe, teams have put Arsenal under pressure to disrupt their passing, resulting in less possession and fewer shots. Everton pressed in the midfield, and, to stay compact, played a high line.

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