Arsenal have momentarily lost their top spot on the Premier League table after Liverpool won earlier this week and to be able to reclaim their position, the Gunners will need to beat West Ham United on Thursday night.
Arsenal welcome a Hammers side who are high on confidence after beating Manchester United 2-0 in their previous league outing so the North London side will have to be on their toes.
The Gunners are obviously the favourites to win as they are undefeated in 17 of their last 19 league matches but quite surprisingly they have won just two out of their previous five matches in all competitions. The Hammers are currently seventh on the table – 10 points behind Mikel Arteta’s side and even if they come out of the Emirates Stadium with a draw, it will be a great result for David Moyes.
Arsenal’s team news and injuries:
Thankfully, there are no fresh injuries for Mikel Arteta but the Arsenal manager is going to miss Kai Havertz due to a suspension.
Havertz has been playing as a left-sided midfielder this season and the German international has done fairly well in his previous couple of outings. However, his absence won’t be a problem for Arteta because the manager has plenty of backups.
Thomas Partey is out injured but Arteta has the option of using Jorginho on Thursday night. However, we feel Leandro Trossard will come into the middle of the pitch because the former Brighton man is naturally suited to playing on the left-hand side.
Apart from this one change, we don’t think the Arsenal manager is not going to make any other changes to the starting line up that took the field against Liverpool.
Eddie Nketiah is the top-scorer for Arsenal this season in the Premier League but in recent weeks, Arteta has preferred using Gabriel Jesus up front so the Brazilian international will keep his place in the side while Nketiah starts on the bench.
Liverpool’s win against Burnley has put the pressure back on Arsenal and if the North London side cannot win on Thursday night then they will remain two points behind the Merseyside outfit.
Arsenal predicted line up vs West Ham United:
Predicted Starting XI(4-3-3): Raya; Zinchenko, Gabriel, William Saliba, Ben White; Trossard, Declan Rice, Odegaard; Martinelli, Jesus, Saka.
