Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino says he is 'optimistic' about key players returning from injury in time for the derby at the Emirates Stadium.
Players such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Hugo Lloris were all pulled out from international duty last week, however, all returned to training ahead of the match against Arsenal.
Despite the injury boost, the Argentine believes that defender Toby Alderwiereld will be out until the new year after the Belgian was forced into an early exit in the 3-1 win over Real Madrid with a hamstring injury.
Pochettino provides positive news
In such a big fixture, Mauricio Pochettino hopes that he will be given the ability to choose the quartet of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Harry Winks and Hugo Lloris.
The Argentine said: "I hope we can count on them for the game but still we need to decide, between the medical staff and us.
"I am happy because if they can't play Saturday, surely they are close to playing on Tuesday and next weekend."
However, Pochettino did stress that the decision will be left to the medical staff because he does not want to risk the chance of aggravating their injuries further.
"We have one training session more and we also need to assess the players who have come back from the international break. We are optimistic."
Blow for Alderwiereld
After a positive start to the press conference for the Spurs boss, he then gave an update on Belgium international Toby Alderwiereld.
It was not the news that the Spurs faithful will have wanted to hear as Alderwerield faces a lengthy spell out, potentially till after the turn of the year.
"Toby is out. We need to assess him. We expect he will be out for longer than we did previously.
"Maybe [Alderweireld will be back], after Christmas. That is the expectation. He feels disappointed and a little bit sad but in the same way, he is focused now on trying to recover as soon as possible."
Draw not enough
The North London derby is the biggest game in the fixture list for both Tottenham and Arsenal, it is a game that brings out the nerves amongst all the supporters - but Pochettino says Spurs will be out for the win.
The Argentine believes: "Always in football the mentality in our case is to win. Try to prepare to win the three points.
"I think every game is completely different. But of course when you prepare your mentality is to win the three points."