Invincibles legend wants Arsenal to be 'team of fighters' in north London derby

Both teams have experienced a turbulent start to the new campaign, for different reasons, and this weekend's showdown could produce another twist.

Arsenal had a dreadful start to the season and that piled further pressure on Mikel Arteta, who was backed in the transfer market with more than £130million worth of signings.

However, the Gunners go into Sunday's game on the back of two straight league wins.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have a new manager in Nuno Espirito Santo and are still recovering from the summer's Harry Kane transfer saga, which has seen their form nosedive with back-to-back 3-0 defeats after winning their opening three matches which saw them top the table.

The Gunners, who were bottom of the league after three games, have the chance to leapfrog their rivals with a derby win.

And Arsenal legend Keown wants his old club to show some fight and desire at the Emirates.

He told talkSPORT: "I want to see Arsenal start to get back where they were before. I want a team of fighters.

"At Burnley, I saw some of the ingredients there, characters emerging. Okay, it wasn't brilliant.

"At one end, it didn't look like Aubameyang was at the races, Pepe was making mistakes, but the positives were those back in the team.

"Partey coming in and galvanising the team and that is what you are going to need against Tottenham.

"It is tough for Nuno, by the way, coming in but this is a difficult one to call.

"I'm hoping Arsenal will do something big now. We keep dreaming!"

Arsenal sat bottom of the Premier League ahead of the September international break - a fact made all the more galling with Tottenham topping the table at the time.

Their fortunes have differed recently, however, and a two-goal win for Arsenal would see them leapfrog Sunday's visitors with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the kind of player who can play a big part, according to Arteta.

"You need a special moment and details a lot of the time decide these types of fixtures," he replied when asked if a big game such as facing Spurs at home was a chance for Aubameyang to thrive.

"Big players do it normally, when they step in and are able to do it for the team normally the outcome becomes really positive.

"He has generated chances but we have to generate more, we have to put him through on more occasions when we know how it is going to end up and he is in good form."