The surprising Premier League leader welcomes a West Ham side to the Emirates who have had a disappointing start to the season and hopes to end the year with a win that takes them out of the hot spot of the table. The ‘scorers’ enjoy a comfortable advantage over Manchester City, but they don’t trust the final arreón that Guardiola’s men can give. Away from the European goal, West Ham need to start adding fluidity lest they be forced to fight against relegation.
This is how Arsenal arrives: leaders with confidence in their possibilities
Arsenal have gone eight games without losing in the Premier League, where the last (and only) team to defeat the Londoners this season was Manchester United on 4 September. The ‘gunners’ have signed only one more draw, this time more recent (since 23 October), but have closed the other 12 games with victories.
Before the World Cup break, Arsenal defeated Wolves (0-2) and Chelsea (0-1) back-to-back away, beat Nottingham Forest (5-0) at home and drew with Southampton also away (1-1). Furthermore, since the aforementioned defeat in the Premier League against the ‘red devils’, Arteta’s men have only been defeated by PSV (2-0) in the Europa League.
In the preparation games played during the World Cup, Arsenal beat Olympique de Lyon (3-0) and Milan (2-1) and were defeated in the most recent one, the one played against Juventus on 17 December. (0-2) .
Arsenal currently lead with 37 points and 5 clear of Manchester City. Also, Newcastle are 7 away and have one more game and Tottenham are 8 away and have one more game too. Finally, Manchester United appears 11 points behind in fifth place.
This is how West Ham arrives: immersed in the low area and with strong nerves
West Ham went into the World Cup break on a near tailspin, with just one win in 5 games and closer to the relegation places than anything else. Those led by Moyes lost to direct rivals Leicester (0-2) in their last game before half-time and that defeat came on top of the 1-0 draws they suffered at Old Trafford and Anfield and the 1-1 draw against Southampton. In between, only one 2-0 win against Bournemouth.
This mini preseason before returning to competition seems to have done well for the ‘hammers’, who beat Cambridge United 4-2, beat Udinese again 3-1 and drew against Fulham (1-1). , this December 17th.
West Ham currently have 14 points from 15 games, the same number of games played as in their last four in the table. Everton also have 14 and relegation is just one of 13 for Nottingham Forest. Southampton have 12, which is just two, and Wolves are 10.5 points behind West Ham at the moment.
At the top, the European positions are 12 points behind a London team playing in the Conference League in the current campaign.
Only two victories for West Ham against Arsenal in the round of 16
When it comes to two historians of English football, the face-to-face between the two teams has had dozens and dozens of precedents. Looking at the more recent one, we have found just two West Ham wins in the last 30 games played between these sides since 29 September 2007.
These successful days for West Ham took place on August 9, 2015 at the Arsenal stadium (0-2) and January 12, 2019 at home (1-0). Furthermore the ‘hammers’ have only scratched 5 other draws, so the face-off between these two clubs in the last 15 years speaks of 23 wins for Arsenal, 5 draws and 2 wins for West Ham.
The two most recent clashes, last season, ended in victory for Arsenal, who won 2-0 at home on 15 December 2021, with goals from Martinelli and Smith Rowe, and repeated at home in 2022, on May 1, with goals from Holding and Gabriel Magalhaes, while Bowen scored for the ‘hammers’.
A very serious team behind against another with very few goals
There are many arguments in favor of Arsenal to lead the Premier League, but one of the most important is the good defensive performance that the team is offering, which is, together with Newcastle, the least beaten in the English tournament with only 11 goals conceded ( the magpies have another match).
In attack, the ‘gunners’ are the second best team after the 40 goals scored by the unattainable Manchester City. Arteta’s side have made 33 and only Tottenham (31) have broken the 30 barrier this season.
At the opposite pole we find a West Ham who have managed to score only 12 league goals so far
league, numbers that place Moyes’ fourth worst record, only better than Everton, Nottingham Forest and Wolves. Thankfully they too didn’t concede much, as their 17 goals conceded put the Londoners in the middle of the table in this group.
Arsenal’s names in offensive matters are Martin Odegaard, surprising top scorer with 6 goals, and Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka, best assists with 6 assists. In goal, Ramsdale has played in virtually every game except 4 that Turner played and one other that Hein played.
Waiting to improve in the offensive sector, at West Ham the top scorer is Gianluca Scamacca, with 6 goals, and the best assists are Maxwel Cornet and Lucas Paquetá with 3. In goal, Fabianski played 15 games and conceded 15 goals and Aréola has play 9 and suffered 9.
