It’s Arsenal vs West Ham United in the Premier League on Boxing Day and here’s our predicted XI.
The World Cup break is over and domestic football is finally back. We’ve missed our beloved Arsenal, but the wait will be over when David Moyes brings his Hammers side to the Emirates on Monday.
We expect Mikel Arteta to name a very strong lineup.
Predicted Arsenal XI vs West Ham
Arsenal are currently on top of the Premier League table, five points clear of Manchester City. A win tomorrow will extend that gap to eight points, which would be phenomenal.
Aaron Ramsdale didn’t play a minute at the World Cup, but we expect him to start for us against the Hammers. The four defenders in front of him are likely to be Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Kieran Tierney.
Saliba was the last of the World Cup players to return to London Colney, but he barely played for France in Qatar, which means he should be fresh and ready to go tomorrow.
Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey are set to keep their place in the middle of the park. The two central midfielders have been incredible all season, and if they have a good game, we should be able to come away with a win.
Our three in front of Xhaka and Partey are easy to predict – Bukayo Saka on the right, Gabriel Martinelli on the left and skipper Martin Odegaard pulling the strings from the number 10 position.
Up front, it will be Eddie Nketiah.
Gabriel Jesus picked up a nasty injury at the World Cup and will reportedly miss about three months of football as a result. That is a huge blow and we need Eddie to really step up while the Brazilian is out.
Predicted Arsenal XI vs West Ham: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney, Xhaka, Partey, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Nketiah
COYG!
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