Premier League leaders Arsenal make a trip to West Ham this Sunday in yet another London derby where they will aim for nothing but the three points. The Gunners want to return to winning ways after drawing 2-2 against Liverpool last Sunday, a result that cut their lead at the top of the table to six points.
Sunday’s opponents West Ham come into this match off a 1-0 win in another London derby at Fulham last weekend and a 1-all draw against Gent in the Europa Conference League quarterfinals on Thursday, but are still battling relegation in the Premier League as they are 14th in the standings, only three points outside the dreaded zone.
Arsenal’s form on the road has been incredible this season and expect to get maximum points against West Ham, a team that has not defeated the Gunners since January 2019. West Ham are also still progressing in Europe so they will come into this match with the return leg against Gent next week on their mind as well.
While speaking to the media on Friday, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta labelled this as a difficult match since West Ham have proved to be tricky in some matches against his team, but they (Arsenal) are ready to win it.
“[It will be a] very difficult game. We know, we’ve been there a few times and we always find really tricky and difficult games. I know David really well and how he’s going to prepare for the game as well, and we are ready. It’s going to be a fight; it’s going to be another big derby for us and we’re going to be at our best to win it.” Arteta told the press.
Arsenal will play after knowing the result of the Manchester City vs Leicester match today as the pressure keeps mounting on the leaders in the fight for the title.
David Moyes, who was a long-time manager for Arteta said in a pre-match press conference that he is very impressed with the job his former player is doing at Arsenal.
“They have had a couple of good young players in the system which helped but he [Mikel] has done a really good job to get them close to being a champion in the Premier League. To be challenging is a huge thing. I think if anybody said that Arsenal would be a Champions League team [this season], you would have said that is a great achievement. But to take the next step and actually be challenging to win it is an incredible level to get to.”
Moyes knows Arsenal have scored lots of goals this season that have helped them go top of the table so he plans to stop them from doing that in what he says is going to be a “tough game.”
“They are going away and playing well at a lot of big clubs, so we know we are in for a tough game. You have to plan to make sure they don’t score any goals. They are very good, and they have done it on the road and have a great record [of 30 goals scored in 15 away games].
“It makes it very difficult for us, but we have had a couple of really good games against Arsenal in the last few years. And hopefully, we can put on another good show.”
Team news
Lucas Paqueta is back from a knock that forced him to sit out the Fulham tie last weekend but West Ham will miss Gianluca Scamacca who is scheduled for a knee surgery today. Everyone else is available for selection.
For Arsenal, William Saliba remains sidelined with a back problem but they welcome back Eddie Nketiah who has missed a few matches due to injury. Arteta now has a full house of attacking options.
