Arsenal icon backs side to overcome injury crisis at Spurs as he recalls 5-1 win

RAY PARLOUR backed injury-hit Arsenal to handle their big-name losses for the North London derby — just as his team did against Inter Milan in 2003.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have a potential triple whammy of key midfielders out for Sunday’s trip to arch-rivals Tottenham.

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Declan Rice is suspended thanks to his red card against Brighton last month, while new signing Mikel Merino is sidelined due to an injury picked up in training.

And now captain Martin Odegaard is a huge doubt after hobbling off during Norway’s 2-1 Nations League win over Austria on Monday.

Odegaard was later spotted on crutches, nursing his injured ankle.
Parlour admits the absentee list is a “huge blow” going into this weekend’s powder-keg clash in N17.

But he wants a response from Arteta’s side similar to that of Arsene Wenger’s men 21 years ago when they headed to the San Siro in the Champions League group stage without the injured Patrick Vieira and the unavailable Dennis Bergkamp.

Wenger’s men shrugged off the setback and famously ran out 5-1 winners, thanks to a Thierry Henry double and goals from Freddie Ljungberg, Edu and Robert Pires.

Gunners Invincible legend Parlour, who captained the side in Vieira’s absence, told SunSport: “We had lost 3-0 at Highbury to Inter and we went to the San Siro.

“Patrick was out, Dennis Bergkamp didn’t play because he didn’t fly.

“I played in midfield with Edu. That was a time when everyone had to step up.

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“Everyone thought, ‘They’re missing two key players in Bergkamp and Vieira, do we give them much chance?’.

“We always thought we could go there and win the game, no problem. But I didn’t expect us to win it 5-1.

“I always remember after the game with Arsene Wenger, I said, ‘Boss, from now on I’ve got to be captain, surely.

“If we lose 3-0 at home and Patrick’s captain and we go to the San Siro and win 5-1, I’ve got to be captain!’.

“He started laughing and said, ‘No, Patrick is our captain’.

“But that’s the sort of game to emulate. You’ve got to go there and players have got to step up. Edu was brilliant in midfield with me. Henry was unbelievable that night.

“You had Pires, Freddie Ljungberg. You had people like Jeremie Aliadiere coming on and playing well.

“That’s the sort of game where you needed people to step up and it’s very similar to this weekend.

“You can never think that you’re missing players, ‘We’re going to struggle today’.

“You’ve got to go out and think, ‘Hang on a minute, there’s another opportunity here’.

“It’s a similar situation to this weekend. Jorginho won’t be used a lot but he’s probably a big influence in the dressing room and can come in, when needed, to do a brilliant job for the team.”

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Parlour fancies Leandro Trossard to play more centrally if Odegaard does miss the game and thinks the Belgian can interchange with Kai Havertz up top.

Arsenal started the season with back-to-back 2-0 wins over Wolves and Aston Villa but went into the international break after a 1-1 draw with Brighton.

By the time Sunday’s showdown kicks off at 2pm, they are likely to be five points behind  the top two of Manchester City and Liverpool, who have favourable home games against Brentford and Nottingham Forest respectively on Saturday afternoon.

Some might say that is a gap Arteta’s side cannot afford to let open up, even at this early stage of the season — but Parlour disagrees.

Speaking via NetBet Online Casino, the three-time Premier League winner added: “You can’t judge the league after four games.

“It’s a rollercoaster ride  because you are going to have times when you have key players missing, like Arsenal have now. They’ve got to ride it.

“It’s a long, hard slog. I always said, if you’ve got a chance with eight games to go, then that’s when you’ve got to push. You have to stay in the hunt.

“Looking at the scenario now, I would say a draw is a decent result away at Spurs. If we win it’s a massive bonus but don’t lose it.”

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Parlour also feels Spurs can afford to lose this game and still achieve what they want to this season, amid suggestions manager Ange Postecoglou may be under pressure if his side are beaten.

One player looking to make an impact will be James Maddison, who was left out of the England squad by interim boss Lee Carsley — despite Jude Bellingham being unavailable.

The seven-cap ace now looks well down the pecking order for the No 10 slot, with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Cole Palmer and  Morgan Gibbs-White all ahead of him too.

Parlour, 51, who won ten caps for the Three Lions, said: “He needs to not even think about England.

“All you’ve got to do is concentrate on your club football. You don’t sulk or feel sorry for yourself.

“He needs to knuckle down, be the main man for Spurs, control midfields week in, week out, be a really important player to win Spurs that first trophy or make the top four.

“England will then notice it and he’ll be straight back in that squad.”