It was, perhaps, a sign of things to come, that this was not going to be any other Premier League season, when West Ham upset Arsenal at the Emirates on the opening day of the season. Arsenal will have an opportunity to avenge that loss to Slaven Bilic's men when they travel to the Boleyn Ground for what should be a cracker of a Premier League contest Saturday.
With the title hopes looking quite slim, all Arsenal can do is win their remaining seven games and hope against hope that Leicester City and Tottenham stumble spectacularly. The Gunners have done the winning bit in the Premier League pretty well in the last couple of matches, comfortably dispatching Everton at Goodison Park, before finding their home form in a 4-0 victory over Watford.
The form, pace and vibrancy of Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck have been key to Arsenal's recent results, and Arsene Wenger will look to the duo to impress again, against a West Ham side desperate for three points to stay in the hunt for a top four place.
"They are a strong side and that's the message they gave us on the first day of the season," Wenger told the club's official website about West Ham.
"They surprised us with their quality, they have 50 points now and that's not a coincidence. Overall, I believe they've sacrificed the Europa League a little bit, surprisingly, but that has paid off for them in the Premier League. They have had a very strong season."
With Iwobi impressing in Arsenal's attacking our, Wenger, who believes his team are still in the title race, despite 11-point gap, said he is unlikely to make too many, which means the likes of Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud remaining on the bench.
"I'm always reluctant to change what works," Wenger added. "Team play has improved in those games and our game is based on mobility, speed and technique. We have found a good balance in our game.
"We know that we need nearly the perfect run and we know as well that we don't look only in front of us, we look behind us as well. We are chased by a group of teams who can make it very difficult for us so we have just to focus on our performance and hope we finish in a very strong way.
"As long as it's mathematically possible, there's a strong possibility. You look at the difficulty of the Premier League and they have been very consistent but every game is very, very tight. That can go the other way."
West Ham are sixth in the table, three points behind fourth-placed Manchester City and seven points adrift of Arsenal, who could have Aaron Ramsey back in the squad, leaving Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, both of whom played for the U-21s Friday, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santi Cazorla as the absentees. A win will strengthen their case for a top-four place, and having convincingly beaten Arsenal in the previous Premier League match between the two sides, West Ham will be confident of walking away from Upton Park with three points again.
Where to Watch Live
West Ham vs Arsenal -- the English Premier League game -- is set to begin at 12.45 p.m. BST (5.15 p.m. IST, 7.45 a.m. ET). Live TV coverage of the match in India will be on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2, while the match can also be watched via live streaming online on Hotstar and Starsports.com.
The Premier League match will be shown live in the UK on BT Sport 1, while the live stream option is on Watch BT Sport.
NBCSN will broadcast the game live in the US, while the action can also be live streamed on NBC Sports Live Extra. Audience in Canada can watch the action live on TSN 5 and RDS, with the live streaming option on TSN TV.
Viewers in Singapore can watch the match live on 102 mio, while live coverage of the game in Thailand will be on CTH. Bein Sports Arabia 2 and 11 will broadcast West Ham play Arsenal live in the Middle East and North Africa, while the action can also be live streamed on Bein Sports Connect.
Australia viewers can watch the EPL game live on Fox Sports 4, while the online live stream options are on Fox Sports On Demand and Foxtel Play.
