Jose Mourinho does not believe he needs to warn his players about complacency ahead of Tottenham's clash with Arsenal, though he probably will do anyway as he acknowledged form goes out of the window in derby matches.
Spurs top the Premier League after 10 games, with their only defeat coming on the opening day against Everton.
A four-match winning streak in the league was denied by a 0-0 draw with Chelsea on Sunday, before Spurs drew 3-3 with LASK in the Europa League.
Mourinho was left furious at his side's display in Austria, but knows they will lack no motivation heading into Sunday's north London derby.
"It's always a good moment to play Arsenal and it's always a bad moment, it's always a good moment because it motivated," said Mourinho, who won his first north London derby in July. "The rivalry between the two clubs it becomes even more beautiful to play. It's always a bad moment because they are a good team and in these matches the table doesn't say anything, the previous results don't say anything. So, it's good, it's bad, it is what it is.
"I don't think I need to [warn my players about complacency] but probably I will. We all know that a derby is a big match and is nothing to do with form, with momentum with injures with suspensions – it's nothing to do with that, it's just Tottenham versus Arsenal."
Arsenal, who sit 14th, have lost two of their last three league outings, though hammered Rapid Vienna 4-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.
"I've said before, I've seen the passion and seen the energy in the last few games," coach Mikel Arteta said. "There were moments, the moments where you take your foot off the pedal or lose focus, in the Premier League you are badly punished. The margins by which we are losing game is very small."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tottenham – Harry Kane
Kane missed Thursday's game in Austria with a minor injury, though Mourinho expects his talisman to feature on Sunday. The England captain has nine assists and seven goals in the league this term, and will become the leading goalscorer in north London derby history with his next strike against Arsenal.
Arsenal – Alexandre Lacazette
Playing in a deeper role against Vienna, Lacazette opened the scoring with a stunning long-range effort. The Frenchman – who has netted three times in the top flight against Spurs – has not scored in the league since September, but had three attempts on Thursday and looked in sharp form.
KEY OPTA FACTS
• Tottenham are unbeaten in their last six Premier League home games against Arsenal (W4 D2) since a 0-1 loss in March 2014. It's their longest unbeaten home league run against the Gunners since a run of nine between January 1960 and January 1968.
• The team scoring first has failed to win 27 of the 51 Premier League meetings between Tottenham and Arsenal that have had at least one goal scored, more than any other fixture in the competition (Spurs failed to win 16/25 games, Arsenal failed to win 11/26 games).
• Spurs are on the longest current unbeaten run in the Premier League (9 – W6 D3), while only Sheffield United (13) are on a longer run without a win than Arsenal (3 – D1 L2). However, the Gunners are looking to keep three consecutive away clean sheets in the Premier League for the first time since May 2013.
• Arteta lost his first game against Spurs in this exact fixture last season – the only manager in Arsenal's history to lose both of their first two north London derby matches was Bertie Mee back in the 1966-67 season.
• The only Spurs manager in history to win both of their first two games against Arsenal was Jimmy Anderson back in 1955-56.
• Mourinho has never lost a home game against Arsenal in 10 previous meetings in all competitions before (W6 D4) – versus no side has he faced more at home in his career without ever suffering defeat.
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