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The 3rd game week of the Premier League will see Arsenal facing their second London derby of the season as they host West Ham at the Emirates on Saturday.
The post-Arsene Wenger era has started off pretty badly for Arsenal and their new boss Unai Emery with the first two matches against heavyweights Manchester City and Chelsea ending in defeats for the Gunners. One could argue that the opening fixtures have not been kind to the new man Emery, who is not yet fully comfortable in his new job with the amount of pressure upon him, but the match against another traditional London rival like West Ham might be the spark that the French man needs to kick-start his reign.
Prior to the start of the Premier League, West Ham was touted to challenge the Premier League heavyweights for European places after having a rigorous transfer season that saw the Hammers adding 10 new players as well as a new manager, Manuel Pellegrini, to their roster. Fast forward 2 weeks, West Ham looks to be in shambles after 2 opening round defeats against Liverpool and Bournemouth. A victory at Emirates against traditional London rivals Arsenal might be what the Chilean Pellegrini and Hammers need to reverse their fortunes.
Arsenal vs West Ham: Team News
Ainsley Maitland Niles, Saed Kolasniac, Carl Jenkinson and Laurent Koscielny are all in the injury list for Unai Emery. Lucas Torreira and Alexandre Lacazette might get their first start of the season with Alex Iwobi and Granit Xhaka the most likely to drop out.
Old boys Lukasz Fabianski and Jack Wilshere might be out to prove a point against their former club when both the teams clash on Saturday. Other than longtime absentees Michael Antonio, Andy Carroll and Manuel Lanzini, Manuel Pellegrini is expected to have all his players fit and ready.
Arsenal vs West Ham: Probable Line-up
Arsenal XI: Petr Cech, Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Nacho Monreal, Matteo Guendozi, Lucas Torreira, Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
West Ham XI: Lukasz Fabianski, Arthur Masuaku, Issa Diop, Angelo Ogbonna, Pablo Zabaleta, Mark Noble, Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko, Marko Arnautovic, Felipe Anderson
Arsenal vs West Ham: Form Guide
Arsenal last 6 matches (including friendlies): LLWDWD
West Ham last matches (including friendlies): LLDWDW
Arsenal vs West Ham: Stats
Arsenal is unbeaten in the previous 9 London derbies at the Emirates.
Arsenal has 28 victories over West Ham with West Ham managing just 7 out of the 44 previous meetings between the London clubs in the Premier League.
The match on Saturday will be the 139th meeting between the clubs with Arsenal leading with 65 wins and West Ham with 34 wins.
Match date: 25th August 2018, Saturday
Match timing: 19:30 IST, 14:30 BST
Match venue: Emirates, London
