Jack Wilshere and Lucas Perez are set to return to the Emirates as West Ham United would take on Arsenal this weekend. Both the clubs have had a similar start as they had both lost their first two games. In terms of the manner of defeat also, both were outclassed in their first game and lost narrowly in the second.
The pressure would be more on Arsenal as they are playing at home and would be expected to go past their London rivals. The Hammers have made some good acquisitions in the transfer market but they haven’t been able to find a way to bring the best out of the players as of now. Midfield is also a huge matter of concern as the likes of Mark Noble, and Jack Wilshere does not seem to have ‘enough legs’ to protect their defence.
Manuel Pellegrini would have a lot of decisions to make, and there is a section of fans who are demanding that club captain Mark Noble be dropped for the Arsenal match. It remains to be seen what the Chilean manager would do.
Team News
Winston Reid, Andy Carroll and Manuel Lanzini are all suffering from major injuries and will remain absent for this game. We had seen Pellegrini drop Declan Rice, Ryan Fredericks and Michail Antonio (all started in the first game) from the matchday squad altogether in the previous game against Bournemouth, so the team could again go through some wholesale changes for this encounter.
4-2-3-1 Predicted West Ham United Lineup Vs Arsenal
Formation (4-2-3-1)
Defence
Lukasz Fabianski seems the only one who is likely to keep his place without any doubt. For the centre-back pairing, it can go either way at this point but we believe Pellegrini would need to bring in young Issa Diop. So we are going with the pairing of Diop and Angelo Ogbonna. Out wide, the experienced Pablo Zabaleta will be a good bet down the right side and Arthur Masuaku will be expected to start in the left-back role.
Midfield
The midfield is where the major problem for the Hammers lie as their midfielders have been non-existent in the previous two games. We expect new signing Carlos Sanchez to be drafted in the squad and for now, Mark Noble should keep his place in the playing eleven. Both of them would be expected to sit back and keep it tight in midfield. Pellegrini would like to see more intent and desire from his midfielders.
On the attacking front, Robert Snodgrass looks likely to start ahead of Andriy Yarmolenko. Jack Wilshere should play in the no.10 role as that will allow him to affect the game more on the attacking front. Brazilian Felipe Anderson will be starting from the left.
Forward
Pellegrini went in with two strikers up front in the previous game, but against Arsenal, they would require an extra man in midfield. So we expect Marko Arnautovic to lead the line alone in this encounter.
