Sunday sees us on our travels again as we cross the capital to face West Ham United, aiming to end the weekend still six points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table.
Our away days have been particularly enjoyable this term, as we have registered more wins, points and goals than any other travelling team in the Premier League, plus we boast a 100 per cent record in our five previous London derbies this season.
The Hammers, who drew 1-1 in Belgium against Gent in their Europa Conference League quarter-final first leg on Thursday night, picked up a vital win at Fulham last weekend, but haven’t won successive league games since October - form that sees them flirting with relegation with just nine games to go.
Momentum building for Moyes?
Having finished sixth and seventh in the past two campaigns, it seemed as though David Moyes had built a solid top-half side, however they have spent just one week inside the top 10 this term having won just eight of their 29 Premier League matches so far.
A run of one victory in 11 matches either side of the World Cup did most of the damage and saw them drop into the relegation zone in February. That might have been the wake-up call the east Londoners required as they have since picked up 10 points from their subsequent six matches.
Recent results have been erratic though, as a 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest was followed by a 4-0 loss at Brighton, and their last home game saw them crushed 5-1 by Newcastle United. That was sandwiched between victories against Southampton and Fulham, which means they have won more times in their past three league outings than they had in the previous 14.
What the managers say
Arteta: "It will be a very difficult game. We know, we’ve been there a few times and we always find really tricky and difficult games. I know David really well and how he’s going to prepare for the game as well, and we are ready.
"It’s going to be a fight; it’s going to be another big derby for us and we’re going to be at our best to win it." - read everything from Mikel's pre-match press conference
Moyes: "I think we are in a better run of form. If I take Brighton and Newcastle out of my head, defensively we've been pretty solid. I said at the time that it [the Newcastle game] was a bit of a freak and let's hope it was.
"We will think of more positive games and hopefully we can do those again and show exactly what we're about. We didn't play so well [against Gent], but we have picked up some really good results. In our last 10 Premier League games, we have had a good total of points."
Team news
Eddie Nketiah returned to training this week after missing the past seven matches, with his last appearance coming in the 4-0 win against Everton at the start of last month.
However William Saliba remains out with the back injury that has seen him sit out the games against Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Liverpool, with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny also continue to recuperate from their knee injuries.
Moyes’ only concern is over Gianluca Scamacca, who has been suffering with a knee problem since the international break and requires surgery. Lucas Paqueta missed the Fulham win with a foot issue but returned in midweek for the Gent game.
Facts and stats
We have only lost three of our 26 Premier League visits to West Ham (W14 D9) and have won nine of our last 14 away games against the Hammers (D4 L1).
West Ham have won just two of their last 29 Premier League games against us (D5 L22), winning 2-0 away in August 2015 and 1-0 at home in January 2019.
We have won eight Premier League games against the Hammers after conceding the first goal, including a 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture at the Emirates in December. It's both the most wins we have against an opponent when conceding first, and the most defeats West Ham have suffered against a side when opening the scoring in the competition.
We have won all five of our away London derbies in the Premier League this season, by an aggregate score of 11-0. Only twice before have we won six consecutive league derbies on the road.
We have won 11 Premier League away games this season, only winning more on the road in 2001/02 (14) and 2004/05 (12).
We have scored 72 goals from an xG of 60.1 in the Premier League, with our difference of +11.9 bettered only by Manchester City (12.2). Meanwhile, West Ham have scored 27 goals from an xG of 38.4, with their difference of -11.4 the biggest negative difference.
We are the only team yet to lose a Premier League game when scoring the first goal this season, winning 18 and drawing three.
Gabriel Martinelli has been involved in four goals in his four starts against West Ham (3 goals, 1 assist). Against no side has the Brazilian been involved in more league goals for the Gunners.
Bukayo Saka has had 45 ball carries ending in either a shot (21) or a chance created (24) in the Premier League this season, more than any other player. No player has been involved in more goals following a carry (6) than Bukayo this term (3 goals, 3 assists).
Match officials
David Coote has been named as the man in the middle, who has overseen four of our games already this term. Three of those were 3-0 successes against Brentford, Oxford United and Fulham, while the other was our 1-0 loss at Everton.
We have won five of the eight games in total he has managed, while West Ham have only won two of the 10 of their matches he took charge of. However, both of those came this season in victories over Aston Villa and Bournemouth before the World Cup.
- Referee: David Coote
- Assistant Referee 1: Lee Betts
- Assistant Referee 2: Timothy Wood
- Fourth Official: Stuart Attwell
- VAR: John Brooks
- Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis
Recent trips to the London Stadium
Since West Ham moved to the former Olympic Stadium in 2016, we have won three and drawn two of our six visits there, with last season bringing a 2-1 success in May 2022 when Rob Holding and Gabriel found the net either side of Jarrod Bowen’s equaliser.
A superb fightback from three goals down saw us grab a point two years ago when a pair of own goals as well as Alexandre Lacazette’s leveller helped us to a 3-3 draw, while a 3-1 success the season before included Gabriel Martinelli’s first Premier League goal.
In January 2019, Declan Rice’s strike proved to be the only goal of the game as the Hammers claimed the three points, in what is the only defeat we’ve suffered at the home of the Hammers in 14 meetings, stretching back to 2006.
Watch some memorable matches away in east London in our playlist
Breakdown Live
Tune into our matchday show an hour before kick-off to join Nick Bright and Adrian Clarke live from Emirates Stadium ahead of the big game.
They'll look back on our trip to Anfield last weekend, and analyse where the dangers will lie for both sides at the London Stadium, as well as hear from Mikel Arteta ahead of the game.
Then from 2pm, live commentary from the London Stadium comes from Dan Roebuck and Nik Brumsack who will take you through all the goings-on in east London
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