MARTIN KEOWN: The North London derby will produce a superb tactical battle between Arteta and Conte

Saturday’s North London Derby has what it takes for a fascinating tactical battle between two highly competitive managers with slightly different systems.

Mikel Arteta admires the artistry and fluidity of 4-3-3 and how it allows Arsenal’s players to express themselves on the pitch. While Antonio Conte prefers the more pragmatic formation of 3-4-3 and believes it will bring success to Tottenham in the same way as Chelsea, Juventus and Inter Milan.

His system is a well-oiled machine full of hard-working gears with Conte demanding his team be tactically astute and disciplined.

Each player is expected to defend when he has no possession of the ball, with no exceptions, but he enters attack mode by breaking forward as soon as he recovers the ball.

Saturday’s face-off between first and third place in the Premier League comes at the right time, after an international break during which there was debate over whether England should use 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 during this winter’s World Cup.

Like all tactical enthusiasts out there, Gareth Southgate will be an interested observer today, wondering which system will prevail.

The last North London Derby in May was billed as the biggest in recent memory and Conte won that one 3-0 when Tottenham beat Arsenal to fourth place. Arteta will have learned lessons from that defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Spanish manager’s expressive style has propelled Arsenal to the top of the Premier League

That day, Arsenal’s full-backs exposed their centre-backs by following Tottenham’s full-backs. Cedric Soares, in particular, flew out of his right-back position to close out left-back Ryan Sessegnon, leaving Rob Holding in one-on-one situations with Heung-min Son.

Holding eventually got two yellow cards for an accumulation of errors on Son in the first half and Arsenal lost. Central defenders William Saliba and Gabriel cannot remain in that vulnerable position today. Arsenal’s back four must remain as intact and compact as possible to cope with Tottenham’s special front three.

The reinvented Eric Dier, a former midfielder now used in the center of Conte’s back three, will use his direct long-range passing to feed the wide attackers and Arsenal’s full defenders need to take those spaces to help deal with those balls in the Tottenham leaders.

But Conte’s disciplined and pragmatic approach has given Tottenham an unbeaten start

Arteta will have looked at how Arsenal can hurt this Tottenham team. The midfield protecting Conte’s back three, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, has acted like the Kray twins this season: two aggressive enforcers manning the midfield.

But if Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli can drift into the space behind Bentancur and Hojbjerg’s wall, Arsenal can be successful.

Bukayo Saka stays high and wide on the right wing, fixing Tottenham’s left wing.

Spurs will be wary of Arsenal’s star signing Gabriel Jesus, who has already scored four goals

That helps to create space for Odegaard to operate in that direction. On the left, Martinelli will float to the center and Granit Xhaka or Oleksandr Zinchenko will run to Tottenham’s right wing and pin him down.

If any of Tottenham’s back three are tempted to push themselves to mark Odegaard or Martinelli in those positions, there will be gaps for Gabriel Jesus to run into.

Arteta will feel he has the tools to win on Saturday. His summer signings have had a major impact and there has been a newfound togetherness between the players and fans at Arsenal, and this Tottenham group will not have experienced the electric atmosphere that awaits them at the Emirates Stadium today.

Son Heung-min answered his recent critics with a sparkling hat-trick against Leicester City

After Tottenham’s 3-0 win over Arsenal in May, Conte told Arteta to stop whining and said ‘he needs to be more focused on his team and not complain’. Indeed, the Arsenal manager has focused on perfecting his side and their system, and they are now at the top of the Premier League.

This promises to be a blockbuster between two managers who firmly believe that their individual tactical approach is the best way to bring success to their clubs.

But ultimately Saturday’s result will tell us more about which of these two teams has the necessary quality to push and challenge and perhaps deny Manchester City in their quest to win their third consecutive Premier League title.