West Ham v Arsenal Preview, Line-up and Score Prediction

West Ham vs Arsenal Preview, Line up and Predicted score by KJ

This is our second game in two days and with West Ham having such a great season, a game at Upton Park provides a real test of our ability and determination to compete with Man Utd and Southampton for the top 4 place.

We have so many injuries at the moment that Wenger doesn’t have much flexibility with rotation and this could massively impact our performance against the Hammers. They are very powerful from midfield and could easily exploit the fact that we don’t have the likes of Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey or Özil playing.

We will need to play quickly if we are to win. Quick passing can counteract the physicality and power of their team but it will be extremely difficult with players like Flamini, Welbeck and Sanogo/Podolski. We need to make sure we don’t concede as that will cause massive problems. It’s important to keep it an even contest for the majority of the game and then to ramp up the pressure late on.

Predicted Line up:
Szczesny
Debuchy – Chambers – Monreal – Gibbs
Flamini – Cazorla
Alexis – Rosicky – Podolski
Welbeck

As you can see, the line-up is nowhere near our strongest with two full backs likely to be our centre back pairing against West Ham away from home.

Debuchy and Gibbs will have big roles as they will need to not only protect their centre back but also ensure that the likes of Valencia and Downing aren’t getting too much joy in wide positions.
Rosicky is going to have to “do a job” on Song and that’s ensuring he doesn’t have the space and time to pick passes towards Carroll. We all know Song is very physical and can play forward passes with relative ease.

Alexis is probably on his last legs but we can’t afford to rest him. He might struggle as he seems to be losing steam fairly easily in a match. He can still press and dribble but his pace seems to have taken a hit.

Podolski may start and he will need to impress in order to keep his place. He seems to do well against West Ham so let’s hope he can have a positive impact.

I’m struggling to predict anything other than a draw unfortunately. The team is missing a lot of key players to injury and suspension and we are going to be tired after the game against QPR with 10 men.

My prediction – 1 – 1

Kash