Arsenal - West Ham Preview: Team news, injury updates, kickoff time, predicted start lineups and score predictions

By -
Arsenal host fellow Londoner West Ham United on Saturday night in the second matchday of the Premier League 2020-21 season.


The Gunners get the new campaign off to a winning start with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over newcomers Fulham last Saturday in the opening fixture of the new season.

The win put Arsenal on top of the league standings on goal difference after matchday one, the first time (since February 2016) they have remained top of the league after a complete gameweek.

In a prematch interview on Friday, Manager Mikel Arteta confirmed that David Luis, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Callum Chambers, Pablo Mari, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli will play no part in Saturday night London derby due to injuries.

The opening day brought a different luck for their opponent, West Ham United, who were beaten 2-0 at home by Newcastle United. David Moyes' side did however bounced back in their EFL Cup clash with Charlton, beating the League one side 3-0 at the London Stadium.

West Ham United have no serious injury concern with only former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere the only sidelined player for the trip to North London.


Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, fresh from signing a contract extension at the club, will be looking to mark it with another stellar performance which has seen him find the back of the net in Arsenal's last four comptetitve games.

Summer signings will also be looking to continue their impressive start to life and at the Emirates in order to cement their place in the starting XI.

Predicted XI

Arsenal: Leno, Tierney, Gabriel, Holding, Bellerin, Elneny, Niles, Xhaka, Willian, Aubameyang, Lacazette.

West Ham United: Fabianski, Cresswell, Ogbonna, Diop, Fredricks, Rice, Soucek, Noble, Bowen, Anderson, Antonio.

Kickoff Time : 20:00

Score prediction: Arsenal 3-0 West Ham United


Afolabi Kehinde Hassan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ralf Rangnick proffered a permanent solution but United choose to make more casualties with Erik Ten Hag

By -
Image
Ralf Rangnick appeared to have unraveled the puzzle at Manchester United during his short stint as the club's interim manager but the hierarchy did not take heed to his priceless advice. Albeit the German did not enjoy the best of time in the helm of affairs in Old Trafford, Rangnick, who had proven to be more of a administrative minded man prior to his appointment at the club did left blueprints that could have healed the club completely. Looking back and you'll realize it could have been more worth it had speculations of him becoming the club's Director after leaving the Coaching role come to pass. Even in his early days as a professional football coach, Rangnick did not have a reputation of thriving when the stake is high but he flourishes more in an environment that gives him the avenue to build from scratch. The notion was proven truth during his time at Stuttgart, Hannover and even Schalke, where he helped all these teams finesse nightmares into glamour. His appointme
Read more

Doping in sports and the popular culprits in football

By -
Image
Doping in sports is a huge crime as it damages its credibility, and athletes are viewed to have committed an offense when they test positive for illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PED). What is doping ? According to Merriam Webster defines doping as the use of a substance (such as an anabolic steroid or erythropoietin) or technique (such as blood doping) to illegally improve athletic performance. In sports, such action is regarded as cheat, and grave consequences always come with it. Not only that, but on the players' part and their safety, as in the long run, such substances have a long-lasting side effect on the health of the players. Why do athletes dope (take illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PED)) ? There are several reasons take illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and it also depends on the type of sports the athletes in question do. The majority of the reasons is to boost performance. Athletes are also tempted when injured and do not have enough time to recover before
Read more

A sign of what is to come but no excuse for Chelsea's late capitulation in the London derby

By -
Image
Chelsea ended a run of three straight home defeats to Arsenal in an enthralling London derby match in the Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening. While many will see it as a positive omen for the host, which is rightly so, it was very poor game management by both the players and the manager to allow the visitors snatch a point later on the night. Arsenal was there for the taking. It was the worst display by Mikel Arteta's side in recent years and despite having a two goal cushion, Mauricio Pochettino's side were unable to see out the win from a very comfortable position. Cole Palmer and Mykaylo Mudryk continue to show signs of finally settling into their rhythm under Mauricio Pochettino, much to the delight of the home support as the Blues were all over their rival from the North for the first 70 minutes in the Bridge. Both players also scored in either half, with Mykaylo Mudryk scoring his first ever Chelsea goal in the Stamford Bridge with a wonderful cross-cum-shot, which caugh
Read more