Mikel Arteta out to equal 43-year-old Arsenal record in North London derby

On the back of their unforeseen title charge in 2022-23 and return to the Champions League, the Spaniard has overseen another stellar start to the campaign in the English capital.

Arsenal head into the first North London derby of the season with four wins and a draw to show from their opening five fixtures, sitting fourth in the table with 13 points as a result.

The Gunners also marked their return to the Champions League with a 4-0 demolition of PSV Eindhoven in midweek, stretching their winning run in all competitions to three matches.

Since taking the reins in North London four years ago, Arteta has also led Arsenal to four victories from seven games against their arch-rivals, who won the first two meetings with Jose Mourinho at the helm.

However, the Lilywhites have only prevailed in one of their last five games against Arsenal — a 3-0 home win in May 2022 — and each of their last three trips to the Emirates has ended in defeat.

Should Arsenal come up trumps on Sunday, Arteta will become just the second Gunners head coach to mastermind four wins from his first four home North London derbies, and the first in the Premier League era.

The only previous Arsenal manager to do so was Terry Neill, who led the Gunners to a quartet of successive home wins over Spurs at Highbury between 1977 and 1980, starting with a 1-0 success in the former year.

Another pair of 1-0 victories followed before Arsenal triumphed 2-0 in 1980, but the Gunners' hot streak was then broken in a 3-1 defeat in 1982, the year before Neill was sacked from his post.

Since Arsenal's move to the