West Ham will make the short trip across London for their Premier League clash with Arsenal this evening and David Moyes will be hoping that a victory over Manchester United will inspire his team to continue their confident form.
The Hammers head to North London today in the final fixture of the post-Christmas meetings, meaning that Moyes has had five days between the 2-0 win over Man United to prepare for this clash.
Arsenal will not only have the home advantage but will be looking to take a convincing result and all three points from the game to ensure they return back to the top spot in the Premier League table as they compete with Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race.
For West Ham a win over their challenging opponents at the Emirates tonight would see them leapfrog Man United into sixth and just four points off Man City inside the top four ahead of 2024.
In terms of injuries, West Ham will wait on a fitness test for Nayef Aguerd who was missing in the Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool last week and speaking on Wednesday, Moyes could not confirm whether the centre-back would be back in action in North London tonight:
“Michail is not ready yet. There’s no return date for Mick yet.” Moyes revealed.
“Nayef Aguerd has done a little bit of training after illness so I’ll need to see how he is.”
Maxwel Cornet will also undergo a fitness test after suffering with a virus and Michail Antonio as aforementioned, is unavailable to feature as he continues his recovery from a knee injury, according to Premier League injuries.
How could West Ham line-up vs Arsenal?
We predict that Moyes will make five changes to his starting eleven that lost to Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and will go for a 4-3-2-1 formation against Mikel Arteta’s tenacious side.
The first three changes we expect to see are in the defensive set-up with Angelo Ogbonna, Ben Johnson, and Konstantinos Mavropanos making way for Nayef Aguerd, Kurt Zouma and Emerson.
In the centre of the pitch, we predict that the Scottish manager will opt for his most successful and trusted midfield with James Ward-Prowse rejoining Tomas Soucek and Edson Alvarez to complete the middle third.
Last but not least, we expect to see Lucas Paqueta reprise his role in the attacking threat alongside an otherwise unchanged forward line of Jarrod Bowen in the centre-forward role and Mohammed Kudus on the right flank.
With that being said, nothing short of three points will be good enough for West Ham to climb the Premier League table today and a clash in the capital against Arsenal will be a real test of the quality and confidence Moyes’ team possesses going into the new year.
