Premier League leaders Arsenal will look to continue their impressive season when they welcome fellow Londoners West Ham to the Emirates Stadium on Boxing Day.
Venue: Emirates Stadium (London)
Key Statistics
Arsenal have lost just one leave game this season (W12, D1).
Only Manchester City (40) have scored more goals in the league than the Gunners (33).
They have won all their home league games this season, scoring 19 goals and conceding just seven.
Mikel Arteta’s man have just one PL clean sheet at the Emirates Stadium this term.
West Ham have lost their last three PL games.
The Hammers have lost their last seven games in this stadium.
The last time they won the head-to-head meeting at any stadium was in January 2019 (D1, L5).
Head to head
Arsenal have the better record in this fixture, winning 34 of the 52 PL games between both sides. West Ham have just eight wins (D10) and no win in their last six meetings with the Gunners.
Meanwhile, Arsenal won both previous H2Hs held on Boxing Day, 1-0 in 1998 and 3-1 in 2013.
Latest performances in all competitions
Arsenal: L-W-W-L-W
West Ham: W-W-W-L-L
Arsenal
Arsenal will look to make it four straight league wins when they welcome West Ham to the Emirates Stadium on Monday.
The Gunners sit top the Premier League (PL) table at Christmas for the first time since 2007/08 after a dream start to the season before the World Cup (W12, D1, L1).
They are five points ahead of their closest rivals, Manchester City, after the Cityzens dropped points against Brentford in their last game before the World Cup break.
They have the opportunity to go eight points clear if they win this game, given that Man City play on Wednesday.
However, even if they go eight points clear, Arteta will know that nothing is down yet. The Gunners haven’t won the title in any of the last five seasons they were leading the way on Christmas Day, so the Spaniard won’t have his side resting on any laurels.
Their strong position this season has been built on a solid home record that has seen them win all their home games. However, even though they had a perfect record at home, scoring an average of 3.17 goals per fixture, Arteta has called for them to “raise the standards” following a warm-weather training camp in which they finished by beating AC Milan 2-1.
A 2-0 friendly defeat at home to Juventus followed that game, and just one PL clean sheet at the Emirates Stadium this term is cause for concern, as is a growing injury list which includes forward Gabriel Jesus.
Possible Arsenal starting line-up
Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Kieran Tierney; Martin Ødegaard, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Edward Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.
Injured: Gabriel Jesus, Reiss Nelson, Oleksander Zinchenko
Doubtful: Emile Smith-Rowe, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Suspended: None
West Ham United
While Arsenal would have wished for the league to continue as they were in good form, West Ham are one of the sides that would have enjoyed the mid-season break the most.
The Hammers were in a miserable run just before the World Cup hiatus, losing three league games in a row and dropping precariously close to the relegation zone.
They come into this fixture sitting in 16th place, one point ahead of Nottingham Forest in 18th place.
However, after enjoying decent mid-season friendly results, they will feel mildly optimistic going into this game. “We’ll be ready and fired up,” warned first-team coach Billy McKinlay as they prepare for this game against an Arsenal team they haven’t won at any stadium since January 2019 (D1, L5).
To make matters worse, West Ham have suffered seven straight H2H defeats at this venue. This is a challenging proposition for manager David Moyes’ side as they strive to secure European football for a third consecutive season.
They might feel hard done by as all five league away defeats this term (W1, D1) came via one-goal margins, but they must improve on the road if they’re to rise up the table.
Possible West Ham starting line-up
Lukasz Fabianski; Thilo Kehrer, Benjamin Johnson, Craig Dawson, Aaron Cresswell; Tomáš Souček, Declan Rice; Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paquetá, Saïd Benrahma; Gianluca Scamacca.
Injured: Kurt Zouma
Doubtful: Nayef Aguerd, Michail Antonio, Maxwel Cornet, Aaron Cresswell
Suspended: None
Odds
| Arsenal to win | Draw | West Ham United to win | |
| Odds | 1.55 | 4.20 | 6.00 |
| Probability (%) | 61 | 23 | 16 |
Prediction
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham
