‘You have to’: Sam Allardyce suggests £42m Spurs player is even better than 25-year-old Arsenal man

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Arsenal face Tottenham this weekend, and while all of the focus heading into this game is on the attacking talent both sides possess, the defence could be the difference-maker here.

Indeed, football is a simple game in that if you keep a clean sheet you won’t lose, and the winner of this match may well be determined by which team is more stout defensively.

Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Sam Allardyce has been tasked with building a combined Arsenal and Tottenham XI, and he’s actually picked a couple of Tottenham defenders in his backline.

Destiny Udogie got in at left-back, and after some deliberation with Tim Sherwood, Allardyce ultimately came to the conclusion that Cristian Romero is more worthy of a spot in this side than Gabriel Magalhaes.

Romero over Gabriel

Allardyce gave his verdict on the two defenders.

“Van de Ven has done well, but it’s just a start for him. Romero or Gabriel is the question for me,” Sherwood said.

“You have to go with Romero with the start Tottenham have had. You talk about Tottenham and the style of play, but everyone is missing the fact that he has a lot of emphasis on defending correctly and he’s not letting the goals in,” Allardyce said.

Better this season

This is a very interesting debate, and there are two ways of looking at this.

On one hand, Gabriel has been more consistent in the Premier League than his £42m counter-part for much longer, but, in the same breath, it has to be said that Romero has indeed been the better player this season.

This is a debate that will ultimately split the two fanbases, but, in the end, we may well get our answer as to who is the better player when they meet on Sunday.