Arsene Wenger: 'New Tottenham stadium is biggest challenge'

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has warned that Tottenham Hotspur's planned move to a new expanded stadium will result in them posing the biggest threat to the Gunners in recent history.

Wenger's side host their bitter rivals in the North London derby on Sunday afternoon with Spurs five points and four league positions behind the second-placed Gunners in the table.

It has been 20 years since Tottenham finished above Arsenal in the league, but Wenger says that the move to a new ground would lead to them being able to compete financially with their rivals.

"It is the biggest challenge we face," he told reporters. "It will be purely down to the technical quality of work. On a financial level, we always had level power because when we had 37,000, 38,000 seats (at Highbury) we were level.

"After we moved into the new stadium we had less financial resources than them because we had to pay our debts back. That was always the case. Now, maybe in the last two or three years we are in a stronger financial situation but that will not last because they build a new stadium as well."

Tottenham are planning to move into a new 61,000-seater stadium for the start of the 2018-19 season after playing at their current home White Hart Lane since 1899.