West Ham United host Arsenal on Sunday afternoon in a game which will have huge repercussions at both ends of the table, no matter the result.
Table-toppers Arsenal will travel to the London Stadium knowing that a win would bring them ever so close to securing their first Premier League title since 2004. Three points on Sunday will put Arsenal five points ahead of Manchester City, after Pep Guardiola’s side got past Keith Andrews’ European-chasing Brentford last night, in what turned out to be a relatively comfortable game for City. If the Gunners can get past West Ham, they would then only face an already-relegated Burnley side and a Crystal Palace team who are likely to be fully focused on their Conference League final, which comes only three days after their final day meeting with Arsenal.
The overall feeling at both clubs has changed dramatically over the last week or so. Two weeks ago, Arsenal played out a nervy 1-0 victory over Newcastle as they sat behind Man City in the table, with the atmosphere at the Emirates tense and nervy. Fast forward to today and Arsenal are back in the driver’s seat in the league and are in a first Champions League Final since 2006.
For West Ham, two weeks ago they beat Everton with a last-minute Callum Wilson goal to remain two points ahead of Tottenham, and with only one league defeat in their last six. Now, after a heavy defeat to Brentford while Spurs won convincingly at Villa Park, the momentum has definitely swung.
After Tuesday night’s victory and celebrations at the Emirates, Mikel Arteta will have to refocus his side onto this huge, potentially title-deciding game this weekend. He made it clear in his press conference on Friday that he and his players have all of their attention on Sunday’s game.
“We’ll have time to prepare and get ready for that final, but now the focus, the attention, the detail, the energy, everything has to be put into West Ham, there is nothing else there, and we made it very clear.”
Arsenal and Arteta have the opportunity to put themselves into the history books, potentially becoming just the fourth team to win both the Premier League and the Champions League in the same season. This would only add to the pressure on this Arsenal side, who are now six years without a trophy. But Arteta has been clear in his message to his players.
“Stay present, live the moment, prepare and show the same level of energy, hunger and desire that we’ve shown all season, or more, because, as you said, we are closer and closer, and everything that we do now is going to matter to win it or not.”
While a lot of the attention will be on Arsenal and the title race, it is also a huge game in the relegation race with West Ham needing to pick up points quickly. The fight to stay up had appeared to be between four teams, but Leeds United and Nottingham Forest have been in great form and have managed to build a significant points gap between themselves and the two London sides. And with Tottenham seemingly starting to gather some momentum with back-to-back victories under Roberto De Zerbi, time is running out for the Hammers.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are a point behind Spurs, and anything but a victory over Arsenal will see them remain in the relegation zone with only two games left to play. But the West Ham manager is remaining optimistic about staying up.
“We want to think about Everton, think about Wolves, think about the first half against Brentford, about the positive things we can do. This has to be our mindset. Anything that happened before doesn’t change it. We can only affect what’s ahead of us.”
He made it clear how tough a game he was expecting from the league leaders, but issued a rallying call to everyone involved with the football club.
“All the Club, all the staff, the Board, the players, the fans, we have our mission. It’s about Sunday and we just focus on Sunday.”
Nuno has a fully fit squad to choose from for Sunday’s clash, which will certainly be a boost for their chances of overcoming the league leaders. Arteta doesn’t quite have the same luxury, but is not far off, with only Jurriën Timber and Mikel Merino set to miss out.
The London derby, which has been touted by some as potentially one of the most decisive matches in Premier League history, takes place on Sunday 10th May at 4:30pm BST and is live on Sky Sports Main Event.
