Unai Emery wants victory over Tottenham to create 'special moment' for his Arsenal reign

The Gunners travel to Wembley for the north London derby on the back of three successive league victories

Unai Emery says he is looking for Arsenal to create a "special moment" by beating Tottenham in the north London derby.

The Gunners travel to Wembley on the back of three successive league victories, albeit at the expense of Huddersfield, Southampton and Bournemouth.

Tottenham, in contrast, have just been beaten by Burnley and Chelsea, with manager Mauricio Pochettino accepting Football Association misconduct charges for angrily confronting the referee after the Turf Moor loss last week.

Arsenal, 10 points adrift of their north London rivals just a couple of weeks ago, can now move to within a single point with a win that Emery knows will be highly significant in building up his own reputation as Arsene Wenger's successor.

Pochettino, linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid not so long ago, goes into the match as a manager very much under pressure, and Emery, a three-time Europa League winner with Sevilla, was determined to exploit that even though he views the Argentinian as a friend as well as a colleague.

"I know I need to create each moment like a special moment and the past is not important," he said. "In football, the present is about how you create your future and we are here now because we are creating each moment in our own way doing positive things for our clubs.

"For me, each match is one big battle, against the coach that is in front of me. Against Pochettino, it will be a sporting battle, because I have a good relationship with him. Maybe after the match it could be two or three days depending on whether we win or lose before we talk again, but after that we can continue having a good relationship."

Emery has already experienced both victory and defeat in north London derbies as a 4-2 home win in the league in December was followed by a 2-0 Emirates Stadium reverse in the Carabao Cup the same month.

Emery harked back to the 2-0 victory over Chelsea in January as a match that had more relevance to today's derby however.

"We were talking two months ago, when we were playing against Chelsea at home, that we could finish that match nine points behind them, or three," he said.

"Now, after playing in these difficult moments I think we are on our way and it is the same message, play tomorrow, a good, good, good opportunity in the table against Tottenham."

Whether Mesut Ozil starts remains to be seen. The playmaker started both of Arsenal's first two games against the teams currently above them - August defeats against Manchester City and Chelsea - and was picked for November's 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

He was not involved in either of this season's previous derbies or a 5-1 thrashing at Anfield, and was an unused substitute for the Chelsea win Emery mentioned earlier.

The German scored a sublime goal against Bournemouth earlier in the week, hitting the ball into the turf in a manner that has now become distinctive, but it would be no surprise if a player with a reputation for a higher work-rate and defensive capabilities started ahead of him once again.

"Ware doing a plan for a lot of matches and each match is different, whether it’s home or away, the opposition and how we are in each moment," said Emery when quizzed about Ozil.