Mark Lawrenson predicts West Ham United vs Arsenal result
Mark Lawrenson has predicted West Ham will strike a major blow to Arsenal’s title hopes by securing a draw at the London Stadium.
The league-leaders come to Stratford on Sunday (16 March) looking to retain the distance to chasing Manchester City, after dropping two points to Liverpool from a winning position on 9 April.
But after David Moyes kept himself in a job for now with a crucial 1-0 win in one London derby at Fulham a day earlier, Lawrenson has predicted they will hold Arsenal to second straight draw with a 1-1 result this weekend in another all-London affair.
Lawrenson said in his Paddy Power predictions: “West Ham had a good win at Fulham and with City hitting their stride Arsenal can’t afford to slip up but I think they might. I think this might be a draw. Arsenal were fab in the first 15 minutes against Liverpool but collapsed a little bit.
“There were a lot of things going on off the ball which was good, it reminded me of the old days! West Ham 1-1 Arsenal.”
Fight
Given the Irons were thrashed 5-1 at home by Newcastle in pretty miserable fashion just a week and a half ago (5 April) it is a surprising vote of confidence from Lawrenson to now be able to play spoiler in the title race.
Moyes may have lost most of the fans but he has kept himself in the hot seat for a few more weeks at least with a crucial three points at Craven Cottage.
That one result shot the club up to 14th and put a far more positive spin on the table, so any points towards retaining that position will be a definite bonus.
With captain Declan Rice continually being linked to a summer move to the Emirates this is sure to be a big occasion for him, but if he is to depart in the next few months as presumed it would be a far better send off if he can help keep the club up first.
Unless he can also lead West Ham to Europa Conference League glory there won’t be much to look back on this season with pride for him or the fans.
But a good result against Mikel Arteta’s men, who were until recently presumed to be almost nailed-on champions, would be a small positive at a crucial time.