Arsenal vs West Ham United

BPL 2018-19 – Arsenal vs West Ham United Match Preview

Two teams who are desperate for a win here. Arsenal and West Ham have both failed to pick up any points to start the season and although you can argue that both teams got very unlucky scheduling so far Arsenal have been unfortunate to play City and Chelsea and it was quite expected for them to lose both while West Ham have already faced Liverpool, this is a very important game for both teams as pressure is starting to mount. Some will jokingly say it’s a relegation battle, but we can totally expect a very entertaining game between two good football teams.

Arsenal

Well it’s safe to say we don’t often see Arsenal in the 17th place, but there’s a great explanation for this. Their schedule was brutal, Man City on the opening day, then Chelsea away in the 2nd game. This is the first time since 1992-93 that Arsenal are coming into the third game on 0 points and sure they did play insanely tough games, but the pressure will start mounting if they can’t get a result here. They are highly favoured against West Ham and they MUST WIN. Last week, Arsenal will feel like they were hard done by with the loss to Chelsea as performance wise they really looked good. 3 missed clear cut open goals, another few opportunities wasted, many Arsenal fans felt like they should’ve killed the game off by half time. They came back from 2-0 down but eventually fell 3-2 to Marcos Alonso winner.

Unai Emery has shown that he doesn’t tolerate poor performances and players like Xhaka and Ozil were taken off early, maybe it’s a sign that these players must step it up or they won’t play which is something Arsenal have lacked, that strictness to the constant lackluster performers. One player that has extremely stood out was 19 year old Guenduozi who’s been putting on fantastic performances, definitely one for the future! Another player that has impressed is Lucas Torreira, he’s made an impact in both games as a sub and should bench Xhaka for good in the coming weeks if he continues to impress. Arsenal’s biggest weakness would have to be their backline, they were really getting exposed last week with through balls by Chelsea, fixing the backline during the transfer window is definitely one thing that Arsenal have failed miserably. It’s really been a tough start as mentioned for Arsenal, but if they their shooting boots right and play like last week, there’s no reason why they can’t go rampant against the Hammers, but they MUST stop being so poor at the back.

Looking at team news for the weekend’s game, Arsenal don’t have any more absentees than last week. The same names are still out, Koscielny, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles and Jenkinson. We could see changes in the Arsenal lineup for this game, most likely Xhaka will be benched for Torreira meanwhile Ozil is a question mark, he normally plays well against these lesser teams so Emery may give him a chance to redeem himself after sup bar performances in the opening two games. Lacazette should surely get in the starting lineup after making an impact off the bench in the first two games. We should simply expect an attacking minded Arsenal side in this game, even more attacking than last week. Petr Cech is more than likely going to start over Leno in goal after a good shift last week, Guenduozi should also start while the backline is expected to stay the same, unless Emery decides to rotate and play someone like Lichtsteiner over Bellerin or Monreal who have both not looked good last week.

West Ham

Not been the best of starts for the Hammers as their new look squad may take time to gel. They understandably got beat by Liverpool 4-0 in the opening week, disappointing result but given how good Liverpool are those results can occur and there’s no shame in that, especially when you try to implement so many new players against that type of opponent. However, the second game was what has shaken West Ham fans. They lost their home opener to Bournemouth after leading 1-0. Two quickfire goals from Bournemouth between 60-66 minutes helped them turn the game around and it continued West Ham’s struggles in the new stadium. With no points and sitting bottom of the league with the worst goal difference, this game has really came at a wrong time for West Ham. Another away trip to a big 6 side is not what they really need right now because with a dented confidence, it could get very ugly again for them and another loss like against Liverpool, could really send negative energy and the fans into a meltdown and yeah it may sound unfair but with the amount spent this summer, the fans have high expectations and these new players must put in a performance. Defence is one thing West Ham have failed to fix this summer, just like Arsenal and it shows so far this season.

Team news wise, not much has changed from last week other than the fact that Noble has picked up a knock and is doubtful to play. Carroll, Lanzini and Reid are all still out. As for a Noble replacement, we will most likely either see Carlos Sanchez or Obiang slot alongside Wilshere. Wilshere is one player to look out for the most in this game because he will for sure want to get his revenge on Arsenal for not extending his contract after being one of their best players last season. Arnautovic of course is another danger man, West Ham’s biggest threat at scoring goals. West Ham must attempt to have a go at Arsenal given how weak and exposable their backline are, however they must make sure to not send too many bodies forward since Arsenal have a deadly attack, as seen last week. Shouldn’t expect too many changes from Manuel Pellegrini coming into this game. The players themselves have to figure it out.

What To Expect

Two defensively weak sides who have a ton of attacking talent. Well that should surely mean we can expect goals and a ton of them. Arsenal and West Ham have had quite a few high scoring games over the recent years that even went into 5-6 goals. In recent years, Arsenal have dominated West Ham at the Emirates winning 8 out of the last 9 meetings between the sides at home. In the past 7 meetings, Arsenal have won 5 of them by 2 goals at least at home and we’ve seen results like 5-1, 3-1, 3-0, 4-1 in that stretch. Arsenal clearly enjoy playing the Hammers at home and it should be no different again. Betting wise, total over 3.5 goals, Arsenal separate over 2.5 goals and Arsenal -1.5 handicap should all go through in our opinion. They may have no points but their performance last week was promising enough to make us believe that they can come and destroy the sluggish West Ham. After this weekend, Arsenal will for sure be out of this relegation talk while West Ham will stay bottom. Our prediction is 4-1/5-1 Arsenal win.

Match Odds (TonyBet)

Arsenal Win – 1.38

Draw – 5.40

West Ham Win – 8.60

KICK OFF – 25th August 2018 – 3pm UK Time