Preview: West Ham United v Arsenal | Pre-match report | News

Fresh from our stunning Champions League success in Lisbon, we aim to continue building momentum when we travel to West Ham United on Saturday night (5.30pm UK), aiming to keep the pressure on the league leaders.

With Liverpool hosting Manchester City the following day, there is an opportunity to move into second place this weekend or close the gap on the Reds at the summit, but only if we can continue our excellent record at the Hammers, where we have lost just one of ​​our last 16 Premier League away games.

But the east Londoners will be buoyed by their own success away from home this week as they left Newcastle United with a 2-0 win, allowing the pressure to ease slightly on Julen Lopetegui, who is watching from the stands as he serves a touchline ban .

Home comfort for Hammers

The fact that West Ham are yet to record back-to-back wins, draws or defeats in the Premier League this season underlines how inconsistent they have started and they go into this week in 14th place but strengthened after their win at St James’ Park as they seek back-to-back league wins for the first time since March.

Having lost each of their first three home games this term, West Ham are on a three-match unbeaten run at the London Stadium after beating Manchester United and Ipswich Town before a goalless draw against Everton in their last home game.

Those seven points are as many as they had earned from their previous nine home games as they aim to turn their fortunes around on their home turf, with the league their only focus outside of European football this term and their interest in the Carabao Cup finished in the third round at the hands of Liverpool.

What the leaders say

Arteta: “I know him (Lopetegui), we are friends, I have a lot of admiration for what he has done in the game. He is from the same area as I am in the north of Spain. It is a team that is now in a high level after a big win like they had against Newcastle away and it’s always a really tough opponent, we know that.

“(They have) different ways of causing big problems. They are a really physical side, really good in direct play, attacking second balls where they have to dominate the play through the ball. Or when they have the space they are really dangerous Dead balls, and so the individual quality they have, the front players can create any situation to cause you problems, they are really well coached.

Lopetegui: “They put in a very good performance (against Sporting on Tuesday), for sure. But that’s normal – they have a lot of ways to win and they’re a great team with great individual players.

“I prefer not to talk about individuals because they have so many that they could name two teams. I’d rather talk about what we can control, which are our players, our work and our strengths.”

Keep news

Gabriel came off late in the win in Portugal in midweek and we will make a late call on his availability.

Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain our only long-term casualties as they try to recover from their knee injuries.

Mohammed Kudus is out for the fifth of his five games following his red card against Tottenham in October, while German striker Niclas Fullkrug has been out since September with an Achilles injury.

Centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo was forced off in the second half against Newcastle on Monday with a hamstring and it remains to be seen whether he will feature, but one man who will not be involved is Lopetegui, who will serve a sideline- prohibition. after picking up three yellow cards already this season.

Speech tactics

Adrian Clarke: West Ham United are chasing a third consecutive clean sheet, so they will go into this clash feeling better about themselves from a defensive point of view. The way they remained organized and disciplined to shut out Newcastle United at St James’ Park was impressive, even if it wasn’t really in keeping with their season overall.

Only three sides have a higher xG against than Julen Lopetegui’s side, who have struggled to keep up the division’s stronger outfits in 2024/25. Having conceded four against Spurs and three against Manchester City, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, we should be confident of creating plenty of chances.

What I liked most about them in their 2-0 success at Newcastle was their proactive attitude out of possession. West Ham resisted the temptation to sit in a low block, instead engaging more confidently inside the central third.

If Lopetegui’s midfield unit of Tomas Soucek, Carlos Soler and Lucas Pacqueta work as hard as they did in that contest, they can also occasionally disrupt our flow. We would hope to play through them with our ability, but that trio was strong, industrious and aggressive.

Winger Jarrod Bowen is the obvious danger man. He may have scored just three goals this term, but his speed, dribbling ability and imagination in the final third keep all of West Ham’s opponents on their toes.

Bowen’s work rate seems to have gone up a notch. He has recovered possession more than any other Hammers man (62), which is no small feat when you consider that his main role is to create. On that front, he has the most touches inside the opposition box (58), has created the most chances (28) and had the most shots on goal (12). His duel with Riccardo Calafiori will be a tasty fight.

If West Ham repeat the standards they set in their last game, this could be a very competitive London derby, but should they slide back towards the rather flat levels of performance we’ve seen in many of their games, Arsenal should feel sure to take everything. three points.

I expect Lopetegui to focus his game plan on staying solid and hurting us in transition. Provided we perform with the same incredible sharpness we had against Sporting and Forest, they can get close enough to force too many turnovers.

Facts and statistics

West Ham have lost more Premier League games overall (36) and at home (15) against us than they have against any other opposition in the competition.

We have only scored (38) and scored more Premier League goals (124) against Everton than we have against West Ham.

Since the start of 2022/23, we have lost just two of their 26 London derby games in the Premier League (W18 D6).

We are unbeaten in our last 13 Premier League games, coming after playing away in Europe in midweek (W10 D3), scoring 31 goals and conceding just six.

Bukayo Saka has been involved in 21 goals in his last 25 Premier League London derby games (9 goals, 12 assists), including five in his last six against West Ham.

Only Mohamed Salah (16) has been involved in more Premier League goals this season than Saka (12 – 4 goals, 8 assists). In fact, Saka has both scored and assisted
three different games this term, with only Salah again doing it more (4).

As a West Ham player, Jarrod Bowen has scored in four of his five home games against us in all competitions.

The referees of the match

After overseeing our game against Liverpool last month, Anthony Taylor is back at the helm in a Gunners game. We have won 30 of the 51 he has refereed and have lost just two of the last 16. Like ourselves, the Hammers are unbeaten in their last four, the Cheshire-based official has been handed.

Taylor has shown 43 yellow cards in his 11 Premier League games this season, including a division record 14 in a game between Bournemouth and Chelsea. No referee has called more penalties than the three he has this in those matches.

Judge: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Bobby Madley
WAS: Michael Salisbury
Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes

Previous trips to the London Stadium

Since West Ham moved to the former Olympic Stadium in 2016, we have won four and drawn three of our nine visits there, and our last visit to the home of the Hammers saw us destroy them with a 6-0 scoreline, our best ever away win in the league.

Goals from William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel and Leandro Trossard put us 4-0 up at the break before Saka added another and Declan Rice hit a long-ranger to finish off a memorable afternoon. The season before, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard put us 2-0 up inside 10 minutes, but a Said Benrahma penalty and a Bowen strike helped the hosts earn a point.

We have lost just one of our last 16 away league games against West Ham, alternating between a win and a draw in our last five visits. But we fell to a 3-1 loss in the League Cup last season.

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Live coverage

Tune in to Arsenal.com and the official app from just before kick-off to listen to live commentary of the game, provided by our usual team of Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke.

You can find that out too which TV companies are showing the action livewherever you are in the world.

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How to watch West Ham vs Arsenal live on TV