West Ham United must take advantage as fifth Arsenal player ruled out of Emirates Stadium clash
West Ham must take full advantage when they face Arsenal, who will be without five first-team players for Thursday’s (28 December) contest.
Full-back Jurrien Timber is a long-term absentee for the Gunners and midfielder Fabio Vieira has not played in over six weeks.
Thomas Partey and Takehiro Tomiyasu also remain sidelined, while Kai Havertz is now suspended after picking up five yellow cards.
Sharing a team news update on Wednesday (27 December), as per Football.London, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “Nothing has changed yet.
“We’re not going to have [Partey and Tomiyasu], then we have the suspension of Kai, so I think we’re gonna have five out.”
Arsenal have a very strong squad, of course, so much so that the absences of Timber, Vieira, Partey and Tomiyasu have not been felt that much.
However, Havertz has played in all 18 matches for Arteta’s side in the Premier League this season, showing just how important he is to the side.
The German may have taken time to get going following his summer switch from Chelsea, but he has scored four goals in his past eight games.
As a regular starter, Havertz will now have to be replaced in the starting line-up, with Leandro Trossard the most likely to come into the side.
That does not exactly make West Ham favourites to win the game all of a sudden, but those absentees – especially Havertz – certainly helps our cause.
Indeed, there is now very little in terms of difference in quality between Arsenal’s midfield and attacking six players and West Ham’s.
Mohammed Kudus, James Ward-Prowse, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen have built up a good connection and each bring something different.
Then there is Edson Alvarez and Tomas Soucek in the engine room, now tasked with keeping the likes of Trossard, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka quiet.
All eyes will be on Declan Rice, of course, but West Ham can more than hold their own against this slightly weakened Arsenal side.
Now back to near enough full strength, there is no reason why the Hammers cannot return from Emirates Stadium with at least a point.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes has made a “proved them wrong” claim ahead of the London derby.