Premier League: West Ham vs Arsenal verdict, predicted score, key stats and suggested bets
- George Dempsey
- 14 April 2023
Arsenal dropping points against Liverpool has left no room for error in the title race as they visit a West Ham side still scrapping for Premier League survival.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
Premier League, Sunday, April 16, Kick-off 2pm, live on Sky Sports
Predicted score
Suggested bets
Arsenal to win
Arsenal win to nil
Key stats
Arsenal are unbeaten in their last seven matches against West Ham, winning six.
Arsenal have scored at least two goals in six of these seven meetings.
West Ham have averaged less than a goal per game this season, while Arsenal average two goals per game on their travels.
Team news
Gianluca Scamacca (knee) is expected to remain on the sidelines. He could be joined by Lucas Paqueta (foot), who was absent from the Hammers' 1-0 win over Fulham.
Mohamed Elneny (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) are long-term absentees and won't be involved here.
William Saliba (back) and Eddie Nketiah (ankle) are both edging towards a return and at least one of them could be available.
Verdict
The Hammers will hope to pop Arsenal's bubble at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but they may have to attempt to do so without some key players and off the back of a tough midweek trip to Belgium in the Europa Conference League.
David Moyes was disappointed with the performance of his side but accepted a draw was a good result in the circumstances. West Ham sleep-walked their way through much of the first half and deserved to trail.
The clinical Danny Ings fired the Hammers in front in the dying seconds of the first half, but Gent grabbed a deserved equaliser shortly after the grab and the game finished 1-1.
Arsenal's last European outing didn't go so well either as they were eliminated by Sporting Lisbon, meaning they were able to enjoy a rare midweek rest.
The Gunners have bounced back since that game with 4-1 victories over Crystal Palace and Leeds United and seemed to be on course for victory at Anfield.
An 87th-minute goal from Roberto Firmino denied them all three points and gave us the twist in the title race that we all crave. It's been pretty uneventful to this point, but failure to win against Liverpool ramps up the pressure.
Manchester City's delectable performances have Arsenal looking over their shoulder again, and a gap of six points or less could be swiftly eradicated if the Cityzens were to win their game in hand and beat Arteta's men.
Arsenal have a favourable five days on paper, visiting relegation-threatened West Ham on Sunday before hosting bottom-of-the-table Southampton on Friday night.
The game isn't played on paper. Unfortunately, the game is played on grass, as Brian Clough would say. Luckily for Arsenal, they aren't bad there either, but West Ham were unbeaten at home in 2023 until the visit of Newcastle.
The Gunners have made a habit of dominating recent meetings and they tend to find the net more than once, but there does seem to be a newfound resilience about West Ham since late January.
The atmosphere will add to the occasion and although the absence of Lucas Paqueta would rob the midfield battle of some bite, Rice and Co should have enough to keep their visitors honest in a competitive encounter.
