Patrice Evra is tipping Arsenal to play out a 2-2 draw with West Ham United on Boxing Day.
The Gunners are preparing to welcome their London neighbours to The Emirates as they look to continue their table-topping form from before the World Cup in Qatar.
Arsenal have won four of their last five outings in the Premier League and are currently five points clear of second-placed Manchester City in the top flight table after an excellent start to the new campaign.
With City not in action until Wednesday night, when they travel to Leeds United, Arsenal have the opportunity to move eight points clear of Pep Guardiola’s men with a victory in front of their home fans on Monday evening.
However, former Manchester United and France defender Evra feels that Arsenal are going to sorely miss injured front-man Gabriel Jesus, and he is backing Monday’s game to end in a draw.
Writing in his column for Betfair, Evra said: “Arsenal have the opportunity to go eight points clear before City play, and the players have to be professional and understand the goal and not enjoy the Christmas period.
“[Gabriel] Jesus is out and I think they are going to miss him. I can see this one being a draw”
Gabriel Jesus underwent surgery to his right knee earlier in the month after he picked up an injury during Brazil’s group-stage campaign at the World Cup.
Arsenal boss Arteta was quizzed about the timeframe of recovery for the Brazil international, but the Spaniard prefered not to set a concrete date for his return.
Asked for an update on Gabriel Jesus’s injury at his pre-match news conference on Thursday, Arteta replied: “With Gabby [Jesus] it’s very difficult to put a timeframe [on his recovery]. it was a significant injury and knowing him, I prefer not to give any dates away.”
When asked about suggestions that Gabriel Jesus could be out until February, Arteta replied: “No. I never gave a date so that’s not the words that I used, and I haven’t used any words right now. I said that we don’t know, it will take some time for sure.
