Mikel Arteta takes his Gunners side through the capital today to end a huge day in the Premier League’s race for fourth place.
With Tottenham’s game against Leicester ending just before we start at the London Stadium, Arsenal know exactly what they need to do to continue their push towards Champions League football.
After three straight defeats, the Gunners have won back-to-back wins over Chelsea and, most recently, Manchester United to pick up the momentum of their neighbours.
But David Moyes will still want West Ham to keep their dim fourth-place hopes alive with their own place in Europe next year not yet guaranteed.
Wolves’ defeat on Saturday means the Hammers have a three-point advantage for at least a seventh-place finish, but they will have even more on their minds as they look to bounce back from the loss to Eintracht Frankfurt.
With kick-off at 2pm BST, follow Standard Sport’s live blog for all the latest updates with Simon Collings providing expert analysis from the pitch…
Live updates
Tottenham two against Leicester!
Arsenal players arrive
Chelsea late at Goodison Park!
West Ham: A workforce pushed to the limit?
West Ham are still alive in their Europa League semi-final, which matters, but a flat and long performance against Eintracht Frankfurt last night suggests a long season could catch up with David Moyes’ players.
At half-time in east London, West Ham looked set to take control of their first European semi-final in 46 years, despite cashing in after just 48 seconds.
They had responded impressively to another setback in this competition, Michail Antonio canceling out Ansgar Knauff’s opener, and had shown enough to suggest they could overcome Eintracht in the second half.
Instead, it was the visitors who came on strong after the interval and the Hammers ended the night relieved to still have a fighting chance in the tie, despite Jarrod Bowen hitting the two twice. woodwork, including with a spectacular kick in stoppage time.
Moyes has made six changes since the weekend loss to Chelsea, including the surprise return of centre-half Kurt Zouma, but you still wondered if West Ham were starting to pay for a campaign spent battling on two fronts, as they worked against their speedy Bundesliga opponents. .
You can read Dan Kilpatrick’s full report here.
The rebirth of Granit Xhaka
Given the praise Arsenal’s young players have deservedly received this season, Granit Xhaka has largely slipped under the radar.
That’s usually not the case for Xhaka, who has so often been a lightning rod for criticism during his time at Arsenal and at the center of many trouble spots.
This season, however, those moments have been rare. There was his red card at Manchester City in the first month of the season and his sending off at Anfield in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, but other than that Xhaka’s campaign was largely uneventful by his standards.
On top of that, the 29-year-old is back to his best form and he should head to West Ham on Sunday with confidence, especially after his excellent goal in last weekend’s win over Manchester United.
“I dreamed about it because he deserved it,” said Mikel Arteta.
“If every fan or individual has spent five, ten minutes with Granit – or even two minutes is enough – they will understand the person he is, the professional he is and how much he cares for the club.”
You can read Simon Collings’ full information here.
Xhaka reacts to fans when he comes out
/ BT SportsStandard evening score prediction
It will all depend on the type of team David Moyes fields here, given that he rested several big names at Stamford Bridge last weekend with an eye on Frankfurt.
Arsenal should be ready to capitalize.
Arsenal win 2-0.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Nuno; Odegaard, Elneny, Xhaka; Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli.
Predicted West Ham XI: Fabiansky; Johnson, Zouma, Creswell, Masuaku; Noble, Rice; Coufal, Benrahma, Vlasic; Yarmolenko.
Arsenal could have Takehiro Tomiyasu back in the starting line-up after returning from a calf problem as a substitute in the win over Man United, while Bukayo Saka is ready to start shaking off the blow that forced his departure anticipated in the same game.
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