Arsenal v West Ham Preview
|Arsenal welcome West Ham to the Emirates for a 3pm kickoff on Saturday.
Three points will do the home side very well in their face to finish in the top four, starting the weekend in third position.
Sam Allardyce could do with a result to fence off the growing pressure that surrounds him following only one win in his last 11 Premier League games.
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Form
Arsenal WWWLW
Arsenal have actually won four straight in the Premier League and six domestically, but their defeat at home to AS Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League second round tie shows up in the formbook.
West Ham LLDLD
The Hammers are without a win in their last seven games in all competitions and have taken just three points once from their last 11 Premier League games.
Head-to-Head
Arsenal have won the last eight Premier League games between these two and 11 of the last 13, drawing the other two.
Team News
The hosts will be without Mathieu Debuchy, Gabriel Paulista, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all injured, whilst Tomáš Rosický is a doubt. Wenger’s side do have Mathieu Flamini back in contention after nearly a month out injured.
West Ham centre-backs Winston Reid and James Tomkins are injured and right-back Carl Jenkinson is ineligible to face his parent club. Up front, Andy Carroll and Carlton Cole are both injured and Enner Valencia is a doubt. That leaves Sam Allardyce with only Diafra Sakho and Nenê to play up front in his 4-3-1-2 formation.
Key Matchup
Alexis Sánchez vs Guy Demel
One of the contenders for the Premier League Player of the Year award comes up against 33-year old backup right back Guy Demel on Saturday. West Ham’s Ivorian has started only three Premier League games this season. Despite Alexis Sánchez scoring just one goal in his last nine games in all competitions, Arsenal will surely be looking towards their Chilean as a match winner from out wide with West Ham likely to crowd the middle of the pitch. His ability and favourable matchup give Sánchez a good opportunity to do just that.
Prediction
Arsenal 3-1 West Ham
Arsène Wenger’s side haven’t been hitting on all cylinders but with West Ham missing three-quarters of their defence and two key attackers, we expect the home time to pick up all three points before they head off to Monaco.