West Ham vs Arsenal tips and predictions: Irons' losing run to continue in Carabao Cup
- Robbie Savage
- 30 October 2023
Planet Sport Bet's Robbie Savage doesn't hold much hope for West Ham as in-form Arsenal visit the London Stadium in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night (1930 GMT).
The last time West Ham beat Arsenal, guess who the goalscorer was?...Declan Rice.
But will he play in this game? Obviously, it's the latter stages of the Carabao Cup, but will teams start playing their strongest sides? If Arsenal do that then Declan Rice is in it. Could this be his return to play against his former club?
5-0 win for Arsenal at the weekend and West Ham lost at home to Everton. I think Arsenal are in such good form. I'm going to go with an Arsenal win, and an Arsenal win to nil. 2-0 the Gunners.
Robbie’s prediction: West Ham 0 Arsenal 2
Team news
West Ham manager David Moyes has a full squad to pick from, which could see Emerson return from suspension.
Arsenal are without Gabriel Jesus, Thomas Partey, Jurrien Timber, while captain Martin Odegaard is nursing a hip problem.
Mikel Arteta will shuffle his pack with Aaron Ramsdale and Reiss Nelson possibly getting a start.
Key stats
- West Ham have lost the last three
- Arsenal are unbeaten in four
- Arsenal have not lost to West Ham in eight meetings (6 wins/two draws)
- West Ham last beat Arsenal in January 2019, with Declan Rice scoring the only goal
- West Ham have only beaten Arsenal twice in the last 32 games
Planet Sport's other bets to consider
West Ham will look to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat as they play host to Arsenal.
The Irons seem to be feeling the effects of the Europa League, picking up one point from a possible nine in league matches post-European outings.
They’ve enjoyed limited success in the Carabao Cup but haven’t lost inside 90 minutes in the first two rounds since the 2011/12 season.
David Moyes could hand starts to Lukasz Fabianski, Angel Ogbonna, Thilo Kehrer, Maxwell Cornet, Pablo Fornals and Konstantinos Mavropanos to keep things fresh.
Arsenal have reached the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in five of the last seven seasons and are unbeaten in 11 domestic matches this season.
Saturday’s 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United saw them keep pace with Tottenham and Man City at the summit of the Premier League.
Arteta opted to rotate his side for Sunday’s game and so Gabriel, Jorginho and Leandro Trossard are all fit to return to the starting 11.
Arsenal’s extra quality off the bench and fresher legs point towards an away win.
It’s also worth noting that the Gunners are on an eight-match unbeaten run against West Ham, scoring at least two goals in each of the last six meetings.
Despite looking vulnerable, there’s still plenty of reason to believe the hosts can find the net.
They’ve scored in each of the last five meetings at the Olympic Stadium, netting eight times in total.
Arsenal have kept more clean sheets than any side in the Premier League this season, but they have conceded in each of their last three away games.
Interestingly, eight of the last nine they’ve scored have come in the second half. West Ham have conceded six second-half goals in three Premier League matches.
With tired legs likely to be a factor, Arsenal to win the match and Arsenal to win the second half look like smart bets.
