The north London derby will have added intrigue on Sunday with a new man, Igor Tudor, taking charge of his first game for Tottenham Hotspur.
For Mikel Arteta, it will be the seventh time this season his Arsenal side have come up against a team led by a manager in only his first or second match.
After a 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday, Arsenal sit five points clear at the top of the Premier League, though Manchester City have a game in hand and the two sides meet again in April. In contrast, Spurs are 16th, five points above the relegation zone.
Sacking a head coach or manager in the hope of earning a so-called “new manager bounce” is a lottery, albeit one that can lead to a temporary positive impact.
When asked about the challenge of facing new managers, Arteta said on February 11: “It’s happened a lot of times already this season for us. In the end, you learn the lesson. Not only with the change of manager, but with what you expect from a manager to do against you.
“So (we) focus more on us and what we want to achieve, the way we want to play, the things we want to happen in the game that happen many times in or out of relation with what they will do tactically.
“The setup is one thing, the player profile is another, and the momentum and context of the game is something else. We have to be able to adapt, recognise that and understand those clues to do what we have to do.”
So, how have Arsenal got on against new managers this season, and what challenges are posed by facing one?
There are obvious difficulties in trying to prepare for a game against a coach with minimal previous data at said club.
Will they deploy the same formation the previous manager used? Will they press in the same way? Will they completely change the line-up and subsequent approach?
Arsenal have routinely overcome those stumbling blocks this season, having won five of their previous six encounters against new-ish coaches.
The 3-0 home victory over Nottingham Forest on September 13 was the first game of Ange Postecoglou’s 39-day tenure at the City Ground. Postecoglou had replaced Nuno Espirito Santo four days before the game and Forest’s starting XI saw just one change from the line-up of Nuno’s last game in charge (the 3-0 defeat to West Ham United on August 31).
Former Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou did not enjoy a happy return to north London with Nottingham Forest (Jack Thomas/Getty Images)
“It hasn’t been an ideal prep for the players, and you have to take that into account,” Postecoglou said after the defeat.
Nuno replaced Graham Potter as West Ham United head coach on September 27, and in his second game in charge on October 4, he took his new side to the Emirates to face Arsenal. They lost 2-0, with Nuno saying afterwards that West Ham were “starting to work on the basics”.
Belgian side Club Bruges sacked their manager Nicky Hayen on December 9 and replaced him with Croatian coach Ivan Leko. On December 10, Club Bruges hosted Arsenal in the Champions League. Arteta’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory.
Then came the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, Liam Rosenior’s second game in charge and the first Chelsea fixture he had overseen at Stamford Bridge. Rosenior deployed the same 4-2-3-1 formation as his predecessor Enzo Maresca, but was without key midfielders Moises Caicedo (suspension) and Cole Palmer, as well as club captain Reece James.
Arsenal won 3-2 and Rosenior admitted there was still plenty to work on with his new side, telling Sky Sports, “I’ve only been with the team for six days.”
Michael Carrick is the only manager on this list to prevent Arsenal from winning. The 44-year-old was appointed caretaker head coach of Manchester United on January 13 and four days later guided his side to a dominant 2-0 victory over rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford. He followed that up with another impressive performance to beat Arsenal 3-2 at the Emirates as United quickly moved away from the formation preferred by Ruben Amorim.
Michael Carrick’s Manchester United beat Arsenal in his second game in charge (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Arteta soon returned to winning ways against new coaches, however. Wigan Athletic sacked manager Ryan Lowe on February 7, and Glenn Whelan, 42, oversaw the League One side’s 4-0 defeat by Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup last Sunday.
So, Arteta’s record stands at five wins from six, with the caveat that two of those victories came against Club Bruges and Wigan.
Now, Tottenham and Tudor await, and when asked on Friday about facing the Croatian coach in Sunday’s derby, Arteta said: “I think it (playing new managers) has happened seven times to us this season, so we are getting used to it. We have analysed everything he has done in his career: different clubs, different formations, and the players that they (Tottenham) have available.
“From there, we have the capacity to adapt based on what the game requires, but the main focus is on (doing) what we have to do to win.”
How different will this Spurs side look under Tudor compared to Thomas Frank’s often timid and frail Tottenham?
In addition to balancing the mounting pressure at the top of the Premier League, Arteta and his coaching staff will be tasked with concocting a game plan with next to no case history.