Key events
1 min: West Ham with all the ball so far. They’re looking to go long early. Wonder if that’ll be a pattern as they go on.
PEEEEEEEEP! Away we GO!
“Afternoon Daniel! Stattos only giving Arsenal a 49 percent shout of beating West Ham today? Are those numbers the wrong way round?
Hope you’re well!”
I am well, thanks Rob Wolf Petersen. Hope you are too.
I’m with you. No idea how the number crunchers came up with that. I’d have them as high as 80%. But what do I know…
The bubbles are blowing and the teams are making their way out. West Ham in the splendid claret. Arsenal in a shimmering all black number. Both gorgeous kits.
Both teams playing with a 4-3-3.
“Separated at birth – Mikel Arteta and Action Man?
Is it just me, or does anyone else see the resemblance?
It’s almost as if you could use the doll as his stunt double for interviews; his hair hardly ever changes and it’s the same uniform thickness and colour, he’s not very facially expressive, and there’s that strange fixed ‘deep stare into space’…. could Mikel Arteta be a product of the Palitoy Factory?”
That’s from ‘Alien UK’. I’m the last person to comment on someone’s looks, especially someone as dashing as the Arsenal boss. But yes. He does seem to resemble a famous action figure.
Someone on the Sky build up has just said the words, “Can West Ham deal Arsenal a hammer blow”, or something along those lines.
Should we play a drinking game every time a military or hammer pun is used today? Not me. I’m working. But I’ll happily live vicariously through the rest of you.
Good news for the title run. Bigger fish to fry down the line (with respect to West Ham).
“Let’s hope Rice does his future team mates a favour today”
Says Arsenal fan Julian Vicary. Cheeky.
This is interesting. What are Arsenal’s chances of winning every game til the end of the season? Well someone much smarter than me has done the maths:
“Hey Daniel. An observation on Chris Taberner’s question: I suspect Jesus was delighted to have a chance to resurrect his career at Arsenal having had to bear the cross of playing out of position so often at City. But I didn’t really eggspect it to go quite so well”
No notes, Dean Kinsella. That’s a gem.
Aaron Ramsdale has rightly received a whole lotta love this campaign. His heroics against Liverpool last time out might prove the difference come the end of the season.
And yet, he’s probably still not getting the recognition he deserves. His manager is keen to change that as Nick Ames reports:
This is a goodie from Eric Peterson:
“Good morning from Pittsburgh! I wonder two things about this early game. First, it might present Arsenal with as un-intimidating an away atmosphere for a major London derby as I can imagine. With what Arsenal endured up at Anfield last weekend, their sterling form away from the Emirates all season, being quite accustomed to playings games under the weight of what’s at stake at this point, West Ham’s current domestic predicament, and the Hammers’ propensity to turn on them if things go wrong, the hostile-crowd factor today just seems like tears on a river to me. Second, if West Ham could only muster 25% possession against Fulham last week, what could that number be today? Single digits?”
Both great points. I don’t want to predict a walkover but if you’re right then we might well get that. The best scenario for the neutrals would be an early goal for West Ham. That would get the crowd going I’m sure.
David Moyes isn’t breathing clean air just yet, but he does have his sights on what’s to come over the horizon.
Jacob Steinberg analyses West Ham’s “low risk” approach and considers a few needed tweaks come the summer:
Plenty of firepower on the bench for the league leaders. Glad to see Nketiah back in the mix. Should things be in the balance late on he could provide a different point of attack. Saka, as he so often is, will be the man to watch. He’ll fancy it today against that West Ham back line.
📝 Here’s how we line up to face West Ham…
💪 Tierney starts at the back
🤙 Gabriel Jesus leads the line
📞 Nketiah returns to the squad pic.twitter.com/05b9FRa9h6— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 16, 2023
“It’s orthodox Easter here in Greece, what do you think Jesus’s chances are today?”
I’d say that seems like a pretty good omen, Chris Taberner.
Here’s the much maligned (according to Twitter) Hammers team. Lucas Paqueta is back after missing last week’s win over Fulham. Only Gianluca Scamacca is missing so this is as good a squad as Moyes could select. Hammers fans, what seems to be the problem?
Team news
Dipping one’s toes into the murky waters of social media is never good for the soul. But the chat on Twitter is often a good barometer regarding a team’s line-up.
On that front, some vocal Hammers fans aren’t happy with today’s side, especially at the back where things look a little leggy I have to admit. Still, a free swing given the teams around West Ham have lost points.
West Ham: Fabianksi, Coufal, Kehrer, Zouma, Cresswell, Rice (c), Soucek, Paqueta, Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma.
Replacements: Areola, Anang, Johnson, Downes, Cornet, Emerson, Fornals, Lanzini, Ings.
There’s plenty of chat around the Gunners as well. Tierney starts with Jesus leading the line. Nketiah makes is return to the squad with Zinchenko missing out with a tight groin. Otherwise it’s a strong looking team. A title winning team, even.
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus.
Replacements: Turner, Walters, Kiwior, Jorginho, Veira, Smith Rowe, Torssard, Nelson, Nketiah.
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
This is exciting, isn’t it? Even if you’re not a fan of Arsenal or Manchester City, it’s impossible not to get sucked into the drama of a proper title race. And that’s exactly what we have here. A bonafide sprint to the finish where every kick of the ball now drips with meaning and everything is at stake.
City, the T-1000 football machine, whirred with precision for half an hour before spluttering at the end yesterday. Still, they were emphatic 3-1 victors over struggling Leicester.
That means the onus is on Arsenal as they travel across London to take on West Ham knowing that only a win will suffice.
In fact, win all their games from here and they’ll be crowned champions. No need to worry about the fact that one of those games is at the Etihad. That’s a bridge that’ll need crossing another day. For now, it’s a London derby, one that has brought them joy over the years.
Arsenal haven’t lost away to West Ham since January 2019 in a season where they finished outside the top four. That feels like a distant memory. This is a wholly different outfit.
The Hammers return from a Thursday night trip to Belgium where they drew 1-1 with Gent. Though not quite mired in a relegation scrap, they’ll be looking over their shoulder in 15th. A draw would probably do David Moyes just fine today.
My name is Daniel. Delighted as ever to be here with you. If you fancy getting in touch drop me an email or send over a tweet. I promise I read them all.
Kick off at 2pm BST. Teams and build up to follow.
