James Ellis has departed his role as technical director at Arsenal despite only being in the position for seven months, according to BBC Sport. Ellis had previously served as head of recruitment before earning his promotion, with reports suggesting an internal reshuffle has recently taken place at the club.

The appointment of Maurizio Micheli in December appeared to form part of that restructuring, with the former Napoli chief stepping into a senior recruitment position. Nine months earlier, Andrea Berta's arrival as sporting director was confirmed.

Ellis joins Edu Gaspar, whom Berta succeeded, and Vinai Venkatesham in vacating boardroom positions at Arsenal of late, with the pair now at Nottingham Forest and Tottenham respectively, though both find themselves in precarious situations.

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Mikel Arteta's former trusted lieutenant left north London in November 2024 to become Forest's Global Head of Football the following summer. However, he appears destined to exit the City Ground imminently following the club's significant slump in form since his arrival.

Venkatesham, meanwhile, is facing considerable pressure from Spurs supporters over his initial decision and continued backing of head coach Thomas Frank, despite it becoming abundantly apparent from around December that things simply weren't working out.

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Igor Tudor has since been confirmed as interim head coach, with his first match at the helm being the North London Derby against Arsenal.

Despite having been in the role for just seven days, the 47-year-old is acutely aware of the fixture's significance whilst also revealing the true extent of the injury crisis he is facing.

He said: "We made training with 13 players. It is how it is. It is not fantastic beautiful but in this case it's an even bigger challenge to succeed and come out of this situation.

"13 we will have for sure and it's quite enough to achieve what we want on Sunday. And the first goal of course I understand the importance of this game, this is a derby, a north London derby. Everybody expects the three points from us. We are aware of this."

Arsenal go into the derby on the back of two frustrating draws against Wolves and Brentford, with Arteta insisting there couldn't be a more fitting occasion to bounce back after dropping points.

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He said: "It's the one we have after and it's the one that we cannot wait to play. If we could play today, I think we'd all love to play today and to get that feeling that we have in our tummies and use it in the right way. And we have to show on Sunday."

Although Eberechi Eze netted a hat-trick in the corresponding fixture, he has slipped down the hierarchy in midfield lately, and his spot in the starting XI is far from certain - particularly following Arteta's encouraging injury update on two others capable of operating in his role.

"Well, we have to wait until tomorrow, but there is a big possibility that they [Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard] are available for the game."