Arsenal Vs Tottenham Hotspur: Special Operation Thomas Frank

JAKARTA - The loss of center-back Gabriel Magalhaes became a serious problem for Arsenal when they faced Tottenham Hotspur's next-near neighbor in The North London Derby in the English Premier League. Hotspur manager Thomas Frank prepared a special operation that maximized Gabriel's chances of missing in the match at the Emirates Stadium, Sunday, November 23, 2025 evening WIB.

Arsenal, for the first time, over the past two years, Gabriel was not strengthened when he played North London derby. Gabriel's thigh injury to defending Brazil's national team in a test match forced him to be sidelined for at least a month. He is expected to recover and return to play in January 2026.

When he lost his mainstay defender, Arsenal immediately met tough opponents when he started domestic competition after the international break. How not in two of the three matches against Spurs, Gabriel took an important role and appeared as a man of the match.

Now, he has to miss the big match. As a result, Arsenal has also lost defender Riccardo Calafiori who has not recovered from injury.

This made manager Mikel Arteta overhaul the back sector by preparing two defenders who actually had minimal playing minutes, Piero Hincapie and Crithhian Mosquera.

Hincapie himself, who was borrowed from Bayer Leverkusen, has not won Arteta's trust, so it is rarely taken down. This Ecuadorian national team centre-back has only played 26 minutes in the Premier League.

Likewise, Mosquera, who is still 21, will bear the psychological burden because when he started, he immediately started playing in derby full of emotions and prestige.

This is what Frank wants to maximize to gain points at the Emirates. According to Evening Standard, Frank prepared a special operation to take advantage of the gaps in the backline that Gabriel left by playing the two attackers at once.

The scheme is no longer familiar because coaches or managers often play center forwards. As the sole spearhead, he will receive full support from two wings.

But this time, Frank will pair Richarlison with Mohamed Kudus who played against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup match. The result was impressive because Kudus was able to trouble PSG's defense. Even PSG needed a penalty shootout to beat The Lilywhites.

On the other hand, Frank's strategy was very effective when Hotspur visited Manchester City's headquarters. Playing at Etihad, they managed to embarrass Man City 2-0.

Frank is motivated to beat Arsenal at the Emirates. Especially after Hotspur almost won at home to Manchester United before the international break.

They were already ahead 2-1 through Richarlison's goal in injury time. However, moments before dispersal, the header of defender Man Utd Matthijs de Ligt changed the score to 2-2 which made Hotspur bite his finger because he was only able to get one point at home.

If he is able to meet the target, Frank will be the first manager after Harry Redknapp who brought Hotspur to beat Arsenal at home.