STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Sat: West Ham v Arsenal
With Manchester City starting to fall away from the title, Arsenal may well be sensing an opportunity to challenge Liverpool and will be looking to close the gap when they face West Ham on Saturday, writes JOE CITRONE.
Arsenal’s recent form has been far from perfect in recent weeks, but with Manchester City completely imploding and Chelsea still maybe a year or two off a proper title challenge, the Gunners find themselves as the most likely threat to Liverpool’s title hopes.
Mikel Arteta’s side will need to put together a solid run of wins – building on victory against Nottingham Forest last time out – and will see a trip to the London Stadium to face West Ham as an opportunity to begin that run.
They will have to do it without Gabriel Magalhaes, though, who was forced off in Arsenal’s mid-week victory over Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League with Jakub Kiwior likely to come in unless Arteta decides to Riccardo Calafiori into that centre-back position.
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West Ham United v Arsenal
Premier League
17:30 Sky Sports Main Event / Sky Sports Premier League / Sky Sports Ultra HDR
LAST FIVE STATS
HEAD-TO-HEAD
FEB 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham 0-6 Arsenal
DEC 2023 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 0-2 West Ham
NOV 2023 EFL CUP West Ham 3-1 Arsenal
APR 2023 PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham 2-2 Arsenal
DEC 2022 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 3-1 West Ham
WEST HAM
NOV 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Newcastle 0-2 West Ham
NOV 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham 0-0 Everton
NOV 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Nottm Forest 3-0 West Ham
OCT 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham 2-1 Man Utd
OCT 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Tottenham 4-1 West Ham
ARSENAL
NOV 2024 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Sporting 1-5 Arsenal
NOV 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 3-0 Nottm Forest
NOV 2024 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Inter 1-0 Arsenal
NOV 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal
OCT 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
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It has been far from an ideal start to life at the London Stadium for Julen Lopetegui, but some of the mounting pressure on his shoulders was relieved last time out when the Hammers beat Newcastle United 2-0.
Goals from Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were enough to seal a surprise victory for a West Ham side that has really been struggling to adapt to Lopetegui’s new style so far this season.
Whether they will be able to kick on now or if that victory is a false dawn for the Hammers is the big question. Although this is a very tough assignment against Arsenal on Saturday, Lopetegui will at least be looking for a competitive performance from his side akin to the one they produced at Newcastle.
I do think that Arsenal will end up being too much for them, however, especially as it looks like they are back in their groove after wins against Nottinham Forest and Sporting, and that’s why I like the look of a win to nil at 7/5 with starsports.bet.
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(NOV 2024): PROFIT/LOSS: +36.39 POINTS
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