Kick Off: 14:00 GMT

Location: London Stadium, Stratford, London

UK Broadcaster: Sky Sports

Possible Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu; Rice, Jorginho, Odegaard; Martinelli, Havertz, Saka

Arsenal Absentees: Vieira, Timber, Partey, Jesus (doubt), Zinchenko (doubt)

Arsenal Form: WWWLL

Possible West Ham XI: Areola; Coufal, Zouma (meow), Aguerd, Emerson; Alvarez, Soucek; Johnson, Ward-Prowse, Kudus; Bowen

West Ham Absentees: Paqueta, Antonio

West Ham Form: LDDLD

Team	P		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		GD	PTS
1	Liverpool	23		9	2	0	30	9		6	4	2	22	13		15	6	2	52	22		30	51
2	Manchester City	22		7	3	0	27	10		8	1	3	27	15		15	4	3	54	25		29	49
3	Arsenal	23		9	2	1	30	11		6	2	3	17	11		15	4	4	47	22		25	49
4	Aston Villa	23		9	1	1	30	11		5	3	4	19	19		14	4	5	49	30		19	46
5	Tottenham Hotspur	23		8	0	3	23	15		5	5	2	26	20		13	5	5	49	35		14	44
6	Manchester United	23		7	1	4	18	18		5	1	5	13	14		12	2	9	31	32		-1	38
7	West Ham United	23		5	4	2	18	11		5	2	5	18	25		10	6	7	36	36		0	36
8	Brighton & Hove Albion	23		6	5	1	26	15		3	3	5	16	23		9	8	6	42	38		4	35
9	Newcastle United	23		8	1	3	29	14		2	2	7	19	23		10	3	10	48	37		11	33
10	Wolverhampton Wanderers	23		5	3	3	19	18		4	2	6	18	19		9	5	9	37	37		0	32
11	Chelsea	23		5	3	4	20	18		4	1	6	18	21		9	4	10	38	39		-1	31
12	Bournemouth	22		3	4	4	12	17		4	2	5	18	24		7	6	9	30	41		-11	27
13	Fulham	23		6	1	4	19	12		1	4	7	11	26		7	5	11	30	38		-8	26
14	Crystal Palace	23		3	3	5	14	16		3	3	6	12	24		6	6	11	26	40		-14	24
15	Brentford	22		4	3	5	21	23		2	1	7	11	16		6	4	12	32	39		-7	22
16	Nottingham Forest	23		3	3	5	15	17		2	3	7	13	24		5	6	12	28	41		-13	21
17	Luton Town	22		3	2	6	17	17		2	3	6	15	25		5	5	12	32	42		-10	20
18	Everton	23		3	3	6	13	14		5	2	4	13	16		8	5	10	26	30		-4	19
19	Burnley	23		1	2	9	13	27		2	2	7	11	20		3	4	16	24	47		-23	13
20	Sheffield United	23		2	2	8	12	31		0	2	9	7	28		2	4	17	19	59		-40	10

In a match that has become a bogey game for Arsenal of late, West Ham will be looking to win their first game since beating Arsenal in their final game of 2023 at the Emirates in a game that most of us will have chosen to delete from memory. West Ham have beaten Arsenal twice this season, once in the afformentioned league game, and the other to knock Arsenal out of the League Cup in November – the East London side will be looking to make it a clean sweep against their North London neighbours in this home fixture.

Arsenal are on hot form after blowing the socks off of league leaders Liverpool, managing a higher xG against the Scousers since Opta started recording the statistic. Arteta may have found a winning formula in the form of a double pivot of Jorginho and Rice, with Havertz and Odegaard alternating as the further forward attacking midfielder. I expect we may see this again, as the balls to the walls approach we tried against West Ham failed last time, leading to what I think will be a greater level of respect for the opponent who will be well up for embarassing Declan Rice in particular in his second trip back to the London Stadium.

West Ham proved concise and lethal on the counter in December, as Arsenal camped in the attacking half but couldn’t find a breakthrough. The long balls of Jorginho, the quick dispatches of the ball from the box from Raya, and the alternation of positioning of Odegaard and Havertz will be vital to break down what will be a disgustingly low block from the Hammers.

A recent article in the Telegraph highlights how Mikel Arteta and his team have found a solution to their lack of chance creation and creativity as of the last dozen or so games – Arsenal have produced the highest xG from open play in the past 10 league games – all the has been missing is the finishing. Martinelli and Saka have been finding their finishing shoes again recently, and Leandro Trossard seems to be returning to the form we know he is capable of producing, everything seems to be looking up for the Gunners. Another key factor to Arsenal’s game will be the return of Japanese International Takehiro Tomiyasu, who has returned to training following the Asia Cup. I predict we will see him get a start at left back, with Zinchenko picking up a knock against Liverpool.

Prediction: West Ham 0 – 2 Arsenal