West Ham vs Arsenal preview: How to watch, top four, prediction, lineups, live stream

Arsenal have had over a week to recover for Sunday’s game as they make the short journey east across London to take on West Ham in the Premier League. Here is the match preview.

Never doubt football’s ability to play with one’s emotions. Three consecutive defeats, culminating in a 1-0 loss at Southampton, still had the Gunners firmly in the top four chase based on the table, although less so when factoring form.

The team was in dire straits, missing cornerstones of the starting lineup through injury and had the daunting task of facing Chelsea and Manchester United within the space of just three days.

They won both matches, scoring seven goals in the process. Go figure.

West Ham vs Arsenal match preview: Premier League, how to watch, top four race, score prediction, team lineups, live stream

A most remarkable turnaround has seen Arsenal move back into the somewhat undesirable ‘favourites’ slot, a position they were helped moving into by Tottenham drawing a blank away at Brentford.

Boasting a two point lead heading into the final five games, next up for both top four hopefuls is an eerily similar looking pair of fixtures. While West Ham are the stronger of the two teams, both they and Spurs’ opponents, Leicester, are expected to field weakened sides.

The duo are contesting the first legs of their respective European semi-finals either side of the weekend, with the Gunners’ opponents in particularly worrying circumstances ahead of Sunday.

Fielding a weakened team is one thing, and putting one out that only contains one senior central defender (Zouma is back) is another. As tough of a game as it may well still be, the cards are being drawn kindly for Arsenal who have to make the most of the opportunity.

Should Arsenal and Spurs win their games they then head into a period where even more ground could be made between the two. Arteta’s side will host Leeds after West Ham and Spurs will travel to Anfield for arguably the toughest fixture in European football. If all goes well – we said this about their away game at Man City, too – the North London Derby could take place with the Gunners boasting a five point advantage in the table.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Sunday will be a tough game. A derby game. And Arsenal have to plough on with their surge into the Champions League.

How to Watch on TV

When Is Kick Off? Sunday 1 May
What Time Is Kick Off? 16:30 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? London Stadium
TV Channel/Live Stream? Sky Sports (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? Mike Dean
Who is on VAR? Darren England

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