By admin 
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom
There was little to suggest Tottenham would start the Premier League season unblemished, but the club has won four of its first five games, leaving it two points behind leader Manchester City and second in the table.After all, the London club sold record goal scorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich in the offseason without recruiting a clear replacement.
Spurs were also coming off a season in which they failed to qualify for Europe for the first time since 2009, having fired a fourth manager in as many years, Antonio Conte, who became the latest in a long line of coaches to fail to bring success to the club.
Few would have predicted Ange Postecoglou to deliver the feel-good factor.
MANCHESTER, United
His straightforward demeanor and sense of humour have already won him fans among Spurs fans. And Postecoglou will become a fan favorite if he wins his first north London derby against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Tottenham was not expected to compete with Arsenal, who came second to City last season and added Declan Rice for $138 million in a bid to win it all this time.
Arsenal, like Tottenham, has 13 points from a potential 15, but is fourth in goal difference.
Even though Postecoglou has already overseen a 2-0 win over Manchester United, Sunday’s game will be the biggest test of his early rule. Tottenham has yet to win a Premier League title.
“Everywhere I’ve been, the second year is where I’ve felt like the team has really taken hold, but I also understand at this football club I can’t go three, four, five months without results because I won’t last. That’s the reality of it,” he said.
While these are early stages for Postecoglou, Mikel Arteta has assembled an Arsenal team that looks likely to again be the main challenger to City, which hosts Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
If not for a late collapse last term, Arsenal could have broken City’s dominance of English soccer. It spent 248 days at the top of the division — the longest any team had done so without going on to win the title.
Arteta has been backed again in the transfer market and beat City to the signing of England midfielder Rice. Champions League winner Kai Havertz was also signed from Chelsea.
Arsenal issued a statement of intent by beating City in the Community Shield and is unbeaten in all competitions this season. It beat PSV Eindhoven 4-0 on its return to the Champions League on Wednesday.