Premier League: Arsenal’s Double Chasers Head to the East End

West Ham United vs Arsenal

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal return to Premier League action on Sunday with a testing trip eastwards to take on Nuno Espirito Santo’s relegation battlers West Ham United.

Fresh from reaching the Champions League final the Gunners’ double dream is well and truly on, particularly as they have a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table. Second-placed Manchester City host Brentford on Saturday and should close the gap at the top to two points and then it’s down to the Gunners.

West Ham are desperate for points. Rivals Nottingham Forest are disappearing into the distance with three consecutive league wins and Tottenham Hotspur, after scraping their first league win of 2026 against relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers picked up a stunning 2-1 victory away to Europa finalists, Aston Villa. Those results, despite the Hammers picking up seven points in four games, have left Nuno’s team in the bottom three.

 

Talking Points

Can the Hammers go again?

Since he arrived at the London Stadium in September Nuno Espirito Santo has done a good job to lift West Ham away from rock bottom after they made a desperate start to the campaign. He hauled the club back up amongst the pack and, through the winter months the Premier League 2026 betting odds began to look towards Nottingham and Leeds for the third relegation spot. But as we near the finish line the relegation battlers have hit form, West Ham included who picked up seven points from three games before hitting the skids last week.

The Hammers received a nasty bee sting which put an end to an encouraging run of results when they headed to Brentford, to meet a side which had drawn five games and lost one from six. After beating Europa chasing Everton thanks to a last-gasp Callum Wilson goal West Ham came crashing down in West London, losing 3-0. Nuno’s men had plenty of opportunities at the Gtech Community Stadium with the lion’s share of possession and 13 shots, four on target, but they lacked the cutting edge to get into the game.

Now the Hammers need to pick themselves up and go again, and Nuno has a full squad to pick from, except for keeper Lukasz Fabianski, so Mads Hermansen will continue between the sticks. West Ham’s big players, skipper Jarrod Bowen and midfield enforcer Tomas Soucek will be at the centre of the action but Nuno has a choice to make up front, where Wilson is pushing Taty Castellanos for his place, and West Ham fans would like to see young wingback Ollie Scarles in the line-up to face up to Arsenal’s recently returned wing wizard.

 

Saka returns for Arsenal’s perfect week

The Gunners have missed the creativity of Bukayo Saka in recent weeks as the England man has been struggling with an Achilles injury, but he returned to the starting line-up last week against Fulham, and was simply sensational in a 3-0 win, probably Arsenal’s best performance since the turn of the year. Then the Premier League 2026 updates from Merseyside put another smile on Arsenal fans’ faces as Everton held Manchester City to a 3-3 draw to put the Gunners back in the driving seat. To cap it all, Arsenal then beat Atletico to reach their first Champions League final in 20 years, Saka scoring the winning goal and now he has his sights set on the Hammers. The 24-year-old has been involved in more goals against West Ham than any other opponent he has faced, with five goals and four assists in his last nine appearances. Arteta will be careful with his star, who will be desperate to play but is still carrying some discomfort, and he will want him fit for the Champions League final.

There was more good news for Arsenal fans as club captain Martin Odegaard, another star who has suffered with injury for much of the campaign, made an appearance against Los Rojiblancos and he is in contention to start against West Ham.

 

History

Arsenal have won 39 of the last 58 encounters between these two teams with ten draws and nine West Ham wins; at the London Stadium the tally is 16 to four with nine draws, and the Gunners have gone big on their last two visits to the East End, winning 5-2 last season and 6-0 in the 2023/24 campaign.

In terms of recent form Arsenal have won three, drawn two and lost one of the last six games in all competitions while West Ham United have won two, drawn two and lost two.

 

Betting Tip

West Ham are at SBOTOP odds of 5.00 to win this London derby and 4.00 to draw, with the Gunners hot favourites at 1.57. I think Arsenal will navigate this examination, but it won’t be easy against a team fighting for their lives.

   

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