Arsenal vs. West Ham match thread: win, then win again

Arsenal travel across London to face West Ham today in a tough test with implications for the European places. It’s relatively simple for the Gunners — win out, finish in a Champions League place. The Hammers trail Manchester United by three points, with a game in hand, for 6th place. Tottenham held serve against Leicester to move one point above the Gunners, now it’s Arsenal’s turn.

The Gunners won the reverse fixture 2-0 in mid-December. Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe scored for Mikel Arteta’s side. Arsenal were a man up from the 67th minute when Vladimir Coufal picked up a his second yellow for taking down Alexandre Lacazette in the box. It was a controversial penalty and yellow card award, probably a foul, definitely not the type of call you could overturn on VAR once it had been made. Lacazette missed the ensuing penalty, however.

Ben White misses out on the day with a tight hamstring, per Arsenal. In his pre-match press conference, Mikel Arteta reiterated that he didn’t think that Thomas Partey would be able to return this season. Kieran Tierney is confirmed out for the season. Takehiro Tomiyasu returns to the lineup for the Gunners.

Kurt Zouma, who has been dealing with an ankle problem, makes a somewhat early and surprising start for West Ham. Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna, both centerbacks are injured. Craig Dawson is serving a one-match red card suspension.

It’s a surprisingly strong lineup from West Ham, who played a Europa League semifinal on Thursday night and have to go away this coming Thursday to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Eintracht Frankfurt.

West Ham - Fabianski, Coufal, Zouma, Cresswell, Fredericks, Rice, Noble, Fornals, Lanzini, Benrahma, Bowen

Arsenal - Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tavares, Elneny, Xhaka, Saka, Ødegaard, Martinelli, Nketiah

WHAT: Arsenal at West Ham United
WHERE: London Stadium
WHEN: Sunday, May 1st 8:30 am PT | 11:30 am ET | 4:30 pm BT
US TV: USA Network and UNIVERSO. Stream on fuboTV.

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