West Ham vs Arsenal: 3 ways Arsenal can exploit their London rivals

Man City’s victory over Leicester means Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League table has been trimmed to three points. They must beat West Ham on Sunday.

The Gunners purred on Boxing Day to defeat the Hammers in the reverse fixture, and they’ll be looking to take advantage of a side that was in Europa Conference League action overseas on Thursday.

Mikel Arteta’s side can ill-afford any more slip-ups, especially with a trip to the Etihad fast approaching. Here’s how they can exploit the hosts on Sunday and come away with all three points.

3 ways Arsenal can exploit West Ham on Sunday

#1: Get Martin Odegaard into the game

His excellent performance helped us turn the tide in the reverse fixture.

As ever, West Ham will adopt a safety-first approach and form a passive mid-block in order to disrupt our progression through the thirds. They also resort to a mass defence when the opposition advance into forward areas and are happy to soak up pressure until the chance for a counter-attack arrives.

Although it might be difficult to break down, this system should afford Arsenal plenty of time on the ball and give Martin Odegaard licence to dictate the tempo in midfield. The Norwegian’s tendency to drop deep will allow us to bypass the Hammers’ engine room and launch a few attacks, while his sharp vision and creative spark could bring great offensive reward.

Question marks persist over his influence in big games, but we will likely control proceedings here and Odegaard can thrive as a result.

Continued on the next slide…