[4-3-3]: Nwaneri and Odegaard starts but Trossard, Havertz and Martinelli all benched- Arsenal confirmed lineups against West Ham as Mikel Arteta rotates squad
Arsenal are hoping to make it three wins in a row when they head to West Ham United in Saturday’s Premier League encounter at the London Stadium.
The Gunners can climb up to second in the Premier League table and narrow the gap to five points ahead of Liverpool facing Manchester City on Sunday.
Since Martin Odegaard’s return to full fitness, Arsenal have enjoyed an uptick in form, scoring eight goals and conceding just one in their last two games.
TBR Football looks at who Mikel Arteta could name in his starting XI for the 5:30pm GMT kick-off in East London.
Arsenal team news v West Ham
Arteta remained coy over any fresh injuries in Friday’s pre-match presser, saying Arsenal have to “wait and see” over whether Gabriel Magalhaes will be fit against West Ham.
The Gunners centre-back was forced to come off late on during Tuesday night’s 5-1 win over Sporting CP in the Champions League.
Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are long-term absentees, though fellow defender Kieran Tierney was back in the matchday squad in Lisbon after five months out with a hamstring injury.
Arsenal predicted starting XI v West Ham
With Arsenal in such fine form and not many fresh fitness issues, Arteta is unlikely to make many changes from the midweek win over Sporting CP.
We predict Gabriel will be fine to start again for the Gunners along the rest of the back line, with nobody else needing to be changed either.
This means David Raya in goal and a back four of Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel, William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.
Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard all started against Nottingham Forest and will be pushing for another return to the XI.
We think Jorginho and Jesus will remain on the subs’ bench while Trossard could come in for Gabriel Martinelli in the front three.
This is because the £26million man’s skill set is better suited to West Ham’s low block than that of the £200,000-a-week Brazilian.
Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Declan Rice would remain in the Arsenal midfield, while Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka would complete the XI.
Predicted Arsenal starting XI (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard
