West Ham travels to the Emirates to face Arsenal in game week 17 of the Premier League. The Hammers head to North London with genuine claims of being the second-best London side in the Premier League. A victory away to Arsenal, historically scarce for them, would confirm the Irons as the second-best side from the capital city.
West Ham followed up their 3-2 win over then league leaders Chelsea with an uninspiring 0-0 draw to Sean Dyche’s Burnley side at Turf Moor. David Moyes will hope that his Hammers side can get back on the winner’s sheet this weekend. He will want to avoid another mini-slump, similar to the one that had followed their big victory over Liverpool.
Arsenal FC vs West Ham United FYIs:
Kick-off time: 8 PM GMT, 15th December 2021
Team News: Arsenal West Ham
Starting XI Predictions: Arsenal West Ham
Premier League Preview Podcast: go here
Form Guide (All Competitions): Arsenal (LWLLW) West Ham (LDWLD)
The treatment room is still pretty full for West Ham. Let’s have a look at who is likely to miss this London derby.
The first cab off of the rank is Angelo Ogbonna. As I have written several times already, he has had surgery on his torn ACL and will miss a minimum of 12 months of action. A true gut punch for a player who was just hitting his straps in the Premier League.
Fellow center-back Kurt Zouma also remains out for this one. He might be a late inclusion, but with the center-back stocks that the London side has, there is no need to rush him back just yet.
Speedy full-back pair Ryan Fredericks and Ben Johnson are both unlikely to take part, due to their respective injuries.
Fredericks is still suffering from the groin issue that has hampered him this season whilst Johnson needs more time to recover from his hamstring injury.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I am going to say that Aaron Cresswell has a chance to return from the back strain that has seen the team miss him terribly. I know I said this already last week, but I am just reporting the official club line, which is that they considered him a 50/50 chance of playing this week.
This game should be a cracker of a contest. I personally can’t wait for it. I think this will be a highly entertaining draw between the two London clubs.