Can Tottenham stun Arsenal and blow title race wide open?

Arsenal’s most significant battle this season is against themselves. That task is made substantially easier if the media are on board with the concept of a newly sturdy and stoic Arsenal.

Drawing at the Stadium of Light is no disaster – as long as Arteta’s side believe it to be true.

It is right and proper that Arsenal did not face accusations of brittleness when Sunderland equalised a fortnight ago. Nevertheless the thought that Arsenal’s knees could begin to shake still lingers in the background and always will until they get over the line.

The first north London derby of the season is curiously, perhaps unfortunately, timed. On paper it ought to be a relatively comfortable home win for a side that has conceded just one goal at the Emirates all season facing a team with just three wins in ten in all competitions.

But it isn’t as straightforward as that. The Sunderland game hovers like a spectre over this one.

Spurs have won 13 points from a possible 15 away from home in the Premier League, reflecting Thomas Frank’s preference for playing a reactive style of football and his discomfort when expected to be the expansive host.

The best example of this was a 2-0 victory at Manchester City back in August, when Spurs ground Pep Guardiola’s side into submission.

Frank will have watched with interest as Sunderland scored two set-piece goals against Arsenal, both long punts into the box that led to second-ball chaos. That’s the kind of direct football, the kind of unsettling behaviour, that his Brentford were famous for.

If it signals a newfound vulnerability to long balls into the penalty area – if the Sunderland game proves to be a Eureka moment for the rest of the Premier League – then Frank’s Spurs are exactly the sort of opposition to make the most of it.

Sunday’s game won’t be a good one. It will see an ultra-defensive Tottenham try to soak up pressure and then use long balls to try to unsettle the Arsenal defence; to test whether those awkward moments against Sunderland are playing on the mind.

If Frank is successful in this approach then Arsenal will wobble. It’s one thing to drop points in successive Premier League games but if your great rivals are the team poking holes and reopening the title race, the emotional toll could be huge. That’s especially true if, by kick-off on Sunday, Arsenal are top by just a single point, assuming Man City beat struggling Newcastle United the day before.

But this presents an opportunity too, of course. To sweep Spurs aside would consign the dropped points at Sunderland to history, reaffirm Arsenal’s status, and give Arteta’s side an enormous psychological boost ahead of the festive schedule.

That remains the likeliest outcome – and yet.

Arsenal host Bayern Munich in midweek before travelling to Stamford Bridge next Sunday. Were Spurs to nick points before then, all of a sudden Chelsea would be in a position to move within a single point of Arsenal and knock Arteta’s side off the top by condemning them to a third straight Premier League game without victory.

There are lots of ifs and buts in that scenario. So far, Arsenal have done nothing wrong, a scrappy draw at the Stadium of Light a perfectly reasonable result for a would-be champion.

But things could change very, very quickly. One expert Frank performance like the one at the Etihad, and the tension will become almost unbearable in the week building up to the Chelsea game.

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