Darren Bent makes bold claims while picking Arsenal and Tottenham combined XI

Darren Bent has stunningly claimed that no Tottenham player would get into the Arsenal starting XI. He believes that James Maddison and Heung-min Son are close, but no other player gets anywhere near Mikel Arteta's side.

Picking his combined XI on talkSPORT, Bent claimed he would pick both Arsenal keepers over Tottenham's Guglielmo Vicario. He added that the backline would be Ben White, Willian Saliba, Gabriel, and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

He said:

"Goalkeeper, I'm going [David] Raya or [Aaron] Ramsdale. I think they are better goalkeepers. Ben White at right back, brilliant. Two centre halves [William] Saliba and Gabriel. I think for Arsènal (White) is a right-back. I think the partnership between Saliba and Gabriel is so strong you can't break that up."

He added:

"Left-back [Oleksandr] Zinchenko, the whole inverted midfield player, Zinchenko is fantastic at that. Tierney just couldn't play that inverted role as well as Zinchenko, he was about straight lines. We had [Jurrien] Timber as well but he got injured."

Talking about the midfield and attack, Bent claimed that he would pick Partey and Rice as the defensive midfielders while Odegaard gets into the team over Maddison. He finished his combined XI with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Gabriel Martinelli.

He continued:

"Midfield I'm going [Declan] Rice, [Thomas] Partey, [Martin] Odegaard. He [James Maddison] doesn't play holding midfield does he? Saka, Gabriel Jesus down the middle, and [Gabriel] Martinelli. The reason I've not put Son in there is he wasn't great last season, he scored a hat-trick playing up top, he's not played well on the left."

Arsenal take on Tottenham in the North London Derby on Sunday at the Emirates.

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Mikel Arteta and Ange Postecoglou are confident ahead of Arsenal vs Tottenham

Mikel Arteta has claimed that Arsenal do not need extra motivation ahead of the North London Derby. He added that it is 'the most special game of the season' and they are fully focused on it.

The Spaniard acknowledged that Ange Postecoglou has done a fine job since joining in the summer. The Premier League runner-up last season went on to reveal that they could be without Gabriel Martinelli while Thomas Partey and Jurien Timber remain on the sidelines.

In his press conference, Postecoglou vowed to 'scare the life' out of Arsenal in the derby. He compared the game to his former side Celtic's match against Rangers and added that he was well aware of the fan expectations.