EPL: Arsenal in tricky tie against West Ham United on Thursday

Arsenal's final game at Emirates Stadium in 2023 comes when West Ham United crosses the capital on Thursday, and the east Londoners have been one of Arsenal’s favourite opponents in recent times.

Arsenal have won 12 of our last 13 Premier League home games against West Ham, including last season’s festive fixture on Boxing Day 2022, and that coupled with their impressive home form this campaign means they head into this clash filled with confidence.

The Hammers have won now just two of their last 30 against Arsenal, however, they come into this encounter in great form with five wins from their last seven matches, quietly going about their business to sneak into contention for another crack at European football next season.

After lifting the Europa Conference League in June, the Hammers rode that high into the new campaign by taking 10 points from their first 12, including three away games. That form has continued, with David Moyes’ side winning four of their nine league road games, more than the whole of last season.

However, they are without a clean sheet in their last 13 away league trips, shipping 31 goals in the process, and that leakiness has seen them beaten 4-1 by Aston Villa in October and 5-0 at Fulham earlier this month.

But they enter this game on the back of a clean sheet and an impressive 2-0 win against Manchester United, where their front three of Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus, and Lucas Paqueta sparkled.

Having knocked Arsenal out of the League Cup, they exited at the quarter-final stage at the hands of Liverpool, while they topped a Europa League group including Freiberg, Olympiakos, and TSC by recording five wins from six games.

For Mikel Arteta: "It will be very difficult. They are a really good side, really well coached. It’s incredible the success that they had last year. They are again this season showing a lot of consistency. They beat Spurs and Manchester United and that tells you everything about the difficulty of the game and we’re going to have to be good."

And David Moyes: "Arsenal will be a huge challenge. They have always been a really hard team to beat. We had a good result at home against them in the cup - but this is a different competition.

"I've been so impressed with Mikel Arteta since he went into Arsenal. He won the FA Cup and the Community Shield, and there were some down comments but he hasn't half proved them wrong."

After picking up his fifth booking of the season against Liverpool, Kai Havertz will sit this game out through suspension.

He joins Takehiro Tomiyasu, Thomas Partey, Fabio Vieira, and Jurrien Timber on the sidelines.

Moyes will make a call on whether Nayef Aguerd will be OK to feature after he missed the Manchester United game through illness,

Their only other worry concerns Michail Antonio, but he is unlikely to feature having been out since mid-November with a knee problem.