Vertonghen Admits Tottenham Concerned By New Arsenal Signings

Tottenham centre-back Jan Vertonghen has expressed his concerns about the North London derby, claiming Arsenal have improved a lot with the summer arrivals of both Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez.

Having lost on their last four visits to the Emirates Stadium, Spurs will face their North London neighbours on Saturday aiming to put their struggles under new manager Mauricio Pochettino behind them.

Even though Tottenham won their first two Premier League games of the campaign, they have since failed to secure another victory, securing just seven points from their first five Premier League games.

Spurs are currently just two points behind Arsenal, but Vertonghen believes beating them away is going to be a tough challenge.

"It [Arsenal] is a very good team. They have got a lot of good players and I think they have improved every year since I came here," Vertonghen told the Tottenham Journal.

"They have got a very good team at the moment with the pace they have got up front with [Danny] Welbeck, who I think is a very good signing, and Alexis [Sanchez] as well,

"They have got a lot of creativity and movement and they are just one of the best teams in the league and very difficult to beat, especially at their ground"

Having been one of Spurs' most consistent players over the last two seasons, the centre-back has surprisingly been out of the side in recent matches.

The Belgian international started both the Europa League game against Partizan Belgrade last week and Wednesday's Capital One Cup victory over Nottingham Forest, but missed the Premier League defeat to West Brom at the weekend when Pochettino reverted to his regular starting XI.

When questioned about his recent omission from the team, Vertonghen said: "I hope I play every game, in the weekends and midweek.

"I want to play in the biggest games - that is what you are a footballer for. We have got a lot of centre-backs now with [Federico] Fazio and Eric Dier, who is doing very well.

"Obviously Vlad [Chiriches] and Younes [Kaboul] played at the weekend and we are fighting for two places with those guys. Everyone has to be just that little bit better so the manager chooses them."

Nevertheless, Vertonghen has refused to blame the amount of changes made by Pochettino for Spurs' indifferent start.

"We [Fazio and I] played together last week [in Serbia] as well but it is a bit difficult because we want to show ourselves to the manager to play again at the weekend. It is not that big a change I think. They are all good players, we play the same system. I think sometimes you need to adapt a bit but in the end it is quite simple."