After temporarily losing the top spot by Liverpool, the "Gunners" Arsenal will host the "Hammer" West Ham United tomorrow in the 19th round of the Premier League, looking at 8 consecutive wins at home, and being crowned the Premier League halfway champion with 3 points.
Although Arsenal drew by one goal in the last round of away matches with Liverpool and won only one in the last three rounds, they still lead the standings by one point over the Reds. However, after the Reds took the lead in this round, they temporarily overtook the Gunners by two points after winning Burnley to reach the top.
The opponent West Ham United defeated Manchester United 2-0 at home, won 3 of the last 4 games, and ranked 6th with 30 points.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal have won seven in a row and are unbeaten in 10 wins and two draws in 12 home games this season. However, it was not a good sign for Mikel Arteta's Gunners to take the lead at Christmas, having done so five times before failing to win the title.
Arsenal is not bad this season to compete for the championship, the current team after 18 rounds of league records of 12 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses in the Premier League standings 2, although the team in the previous state declined significantly, but fortunately the team adjusted in time, the last ten matches to achieve a record of 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, the recent return of form, the team's performance is still quite strong.
When the two teams met in the second leg last season, two penalties were a watershed moment for the Premier League title that season.
The Gunners got off to a good start, opening the scoring in the seventh minute and Odegaard making it 2-0 three minutes later, a perfect start to the game, and as long as the mentality is not unbalanced, it is completely possible to usher in a big victory.
But a penalty scored and a penalty not scored decided Arsenal's title fate, first in the 34th minute Arsenal defender Gabriel fouled in the box, West Ham United won a penalty and scored, the score was rewritten to 1:2, and then Arsenal won a penalty in the 49th minute because of a handball in the West Ham United box, but Saka missed the penalty and missed the opportunity to extend the score.
In the 55th minute of the game, West Ham relied on a simple cross, and Bowen received the ball and volleyed the goalkeeper to lock the score at 2:2, which directly made Arsenal lose the initiative to win the championship.
Going back to this London derby, Arteta must not dare to be careless, after all, the opponents are waiting for the "other" team to make a mistake.
Arsenal defenders Timber, Thomas, Patrick Vieira and Kenhiro Tomiyasu were absent due to injury, which brought certain hidden dangers to the team's defense. Saka, who has eight goals and 11 assists, will start alongside Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah, Leandro Trossard, Odegaard and Kai Havertz.
West Ham United, the overall performance this season is relatively stable, in the case of multi-front operations, the team has also played very good results, they are currently 18 rounds of league records with 9 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses in the Premier League standings.
In terms of recent results, the team beat Manchester United 2-0 in the last game, and the team has a record of 7 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in the last 10 matches, which is quite good.
Antonio, Corne and Aguerd could be sidelined through injury, with Bowen with 13 goals and three assists, joining Kudus with nine goals and Soucek with seven goals.
In terms of all-time head-to-head records, Arsenal have a clear advantage over West Ham United. However, in this season's Carabao Cup, Arsenal lost 3-1 away to West Ham United, ending an eight-game unbeaten run. However, at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal have won all of their last eight meetings with West Ham United and have won 13 of their last 14 meetings.
To sum up, while Arsenal have the advantage in terms of strength and head-to-head record, West Ham United have been in excellent form of late, and Arsenal are suffering from injuries. As a result, the result of this game is difficult, but Arsenal are still favoured to win.
The other game, Tottenham Hotspur vs. Brighton & Hove Albion is also in the spotlight. Tottenham Hotspur defeated Everton by 1 goal at home in the last round, and ranked 4th with 36 points from all wins in the last 3 rounds, while Brighton was forced to draw by Crystal Palace in the last round, ranking 9th with 29 points from 2 and 1 loss in the last 3 rounds.
Brighton have scored 34 goals in 25 assists so far, an average of 1The firepower of 9 goals is good, but the defense is slightly weaker, conceding an average of 1 per game7 balls.
From the above point of view, the gap between the two teams in terms of strength still exists, Arsenal as the top of the league, the strength is undoubted, in the past record, Arsenal has also achieved an excellent record of 8 games unbeaten, this game is still optimistic that Arsenal can win.
Tottenham have the more firepower, currently scoring 37 goals with 29 assists and averaging 2 per game1 ball. Richarlison has scored in recent games and Son Heung-min has scored 11 goals and will put Brighton's defence to the test.
Tottenham, on the other hand, have been strong on the road this season, with an unbeaten away rate of 89 per cent, and are likely to beat Brighton and Hove Albion after last season.