Preview: West Ham United v Arsenal

Fresh off our stunning Champions League success in Lisbon, we aim to keep building momentum when we travel to West Ham United on Saturday evening (5.30pm UK), aiming to keep the pressure up on the league leaders.

With Liverpool hosting Manchester City the following day, there is an opportunity to move into second spot this weekend or close the gap on the Reds at the summit, but only if we can continue our superb record at the Hammers, where we’ve lost just one of our last 16 Premier League away games.

But the east Londoners will be buoyed by their own success on the road this week as they left Newcastle United with a 2-0 victory, allowing the pressure to ease slightly on Julen Lopetegui, who watch from the stands as he serves a touchline ban.

Home comforts for the Hammers

The fact that West Ham are yet to record successive wins, draws or losses in the Premier League this season highlights how inconsistently they’ve started, and they head into this week in 14th place but boosted after their win at St James’ Park as they seek consecutive league victories for the first time since March.

Having lost each of their first three home games this term, West Ham are on a three-game unbeaten run at the London Stadium having beaten Manchester United and Ipswich Town before a goalless draw with Everton in their last home outing.

Those seven points are as many as they had earned from their previous nine home games as they aim to turn their fortunes around on their own turf, with the league being their sole focus with no European football this term, and their interest in the Carabao Cup ending at the third round stage at the hands of Liverpool.

What the managers say

Arteta: "I know him [Lopetegui], we are friends, I have huge admiration for what he has done in the game. He is from the same area as I am in the north of Spain. It’s a team that’s now in a high after the big win that they had against Newcastle away and it’s always a really tough opponent, we know that.

"[They have] various ways to create big problems. They are a really physical side, really good in direct play, attacking second balls where they have to dominate the game through the ball. Or when they have the space they are a really dangerous team. Set pieces, and then individual quality they have, the front players can create in any moment any situation to cause you trouble. They are really well coached."

Lopetegui: "They put in a very good performance [against Sporting on Tuesday], for sure. But this is normal - they have a have a lot of ways to win, and they are a great team with great individual players.

"I prefer not to talk about individuals, because they have so many they could name two teams. I would rather talk about what we can control, which is our players, our work and our strengths."

Team news

Gabriel came off late during the win in Portugal in midweek, and we will be making a late call on his availability.

Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain our only long-term casualties as they attempt to recover from their knee injuries.

Mohammed Kudus sits out the fifth of his five-match following his red card against Tottenham in October, while German striker Niclas Fullkrug has been out since September with an Achilles injury.

Centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo was forced off in the second half against Newcastle on Monday with a knock and it remains to be seen if he’ll feature, but one man who won’t be involved is Lopetegui who will serve a touchline ban after picking up three yellow cards already this season.

Talking tactics

Adrian Clarke: West Ham United are chasing a third successive clean sheet, so they will come into this clash feeling better about themselves from a defensive standpoint. The way they stayed organised and disciplined to shut out Newcastle United at St James’ Park was impressive, even if it was not really in keeping with their season in general.

Only three sides have a higher xG against than Julen Lopetegui’s side, who have struggled to contain the division’s stronger outfits in 2024/25. Having conceded four against Spurs, and three against Manchester City, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, we should feel confident of fashioning plenty of chances.

What I liked most about them in their 2-0 success at Newcastle was their proactive attitude out of possession. West Ham resisted the temptation to sit in a low block, instead engaging more assertively inside the middle third.

If Lopetegui’s midfield unit of Tomas Soucek, Carlos Soler and Lucas Pacqueta work as hard as they did in that contest, they could disrupt our flow on occasion too. We would hope to play through them with our ability, but that trio were strong, industrious and aggressive.

Winger Jarrod Bowen is the obvious danger man. He may have only scored three goals this term, but his speed, dribbling skills and imagination inside the final third keeps all of West Ham’s opponents on their toes.

Bowen’s workrate seems to have gone up a notch. He has regained possession more than any other Hammers man (62), which is no mean feat when you consider his main role is to create. On that front he has the most touches inside the opposition box (58), has created the most chances (28), and had the most shots on target (12). His duel with Riccardo Calafiori is set to be a tasty battle.

If West Ham replicate the standards they set in their last match, this could be a very competitive London derby, but should they drift back towards the rather flat performance levels we’ve seen in many of their games, Arsenal should feel confident of taking all three points.

I expect Lopetegui to focus his game plan around staying solid and hurting us on transitions. Providing we perform with the same incredible sharpness we had against Sporting and Forest, they might get close enough to force too many turnovers.

Facts and stats

West Ham have lost more Premier League games overall (36) and at home (15) against us than they have against any other opponent in the competition.

We have only beaten (38) and scored more Premier League goals (124) against Everton than we have against West Ham.

Since the start of 2022/23, we have lost just two of their 26 London derby matches in the Premier League (W18 D6).

We are unbeaten in our last 13 Premier League games that have come after playing away in Europe in midweek (W10 D3), scoring 31 goals and conceding just six.

Bukayo Saka has been involved in 21 goals in his last 25 London derby matches in the Premier League (9 goals, 12 assists), including five in his last six against West Ham.

Only Mohamed Salah (16) has been involved in more Premier League goals this season than Saka (12 – 4 goals, 8 assists). Indeed, Saka has both scored and assisted in
three different games this term, with only Salah again doing so more (4).

As a West Ham player, Jarrod Bowen has scored in four of his five home appearances against us in all competitions.

Match officials

Having overseen our fixture against Liverpool last month, Anthony Taylor is back at the helm of a Gunners game. We have won 30 of the 51 he has refereed, and have only lost two of the last 16. Like ourselves, the Hammers are unbeaten in their last four the Cheshire-based official has been handed.

Taylor has shown 43 yellow cards in his 11 Premier League outings this season, which includes a division record 14 in a game between Bournemouth and Chelsea. No referee has awarded more penalties than the three he has this in those matches.

Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Bobby Madley
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes

Previous trips to London Stadium

Since West Ham moved to the former Olympic Stadium in 2016, we have won four and drawn three of our nine visits there, and our last visit to the Hammers’ home saw us demolish them by a 6-0 scoreline, our best-ever away win in the league.

Goals from William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel and Leandro Trossard put us 4-0 up at half-time, before Saka added a second and Declan Rice netted a long-ranger to cap off a memorable afternoon. The season before, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard put us 2-0 up inside 10 minutes, but a Said Benrahma penalty and a Bowen strike helped the hosts earn a point.

We have lost just one of our last 16 away league games against West Ham, alternating between a win and a draw in our last five visits. However we did fall to a 3-1 loss in the League Cup last season.

Live coverage

Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app from just before kick-off to listen to live commentary of the game, provided by our usual team of Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke.

You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live, wherever you are in the world.