Arsenal vs West Ham United Last Minute Preview

After a good performance by a second string team in the midweek, thrashing Newcastle 4-0 in the Carling Cup thus advancing to the quarter finals, you can bet confidence is on a sky high. West Ham are bottom of the table and haven't been particularly impressive defensively. But we need to focus and not take it easily - we certainly don't want to see a West Brom Part 2.

And that's why the first goal is important for us. If we can knock one in early, and if we don't sleep after that, I've a feeling we can really open the floodgates and give them a hammering(no pun intended). The longer we don't score. the more pressure we'll face and so we need, as always, to be clinical.

Wilshere is serving his last of the 3 match ban today and Diaby is absent while Gibbs has picked up another injury which will sideline him for some 2-4 weeks. Rest of the squad is more or less the same.


Team line ups:

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Fabiansky, Sagna, Squillaci, Koscielny, Clichy, Song, Denilson, Fabregas, Nasri, Arshavin, Chamakh

Substitutes:  Szczesny, Eboue, Djourou, Walcott, Rosicky, Vela, Bendtner

Manager: Arsene Wenger

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Formation view:

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                                                       Fabiansky

Sagna                      Koscielny                                       Squillaci                   Clichy

                                          Song                    Denilson

     Nasri                                         Fabregas                                       Arshavin

                                                      Chamakh

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West Ham United(4-5-1): Green, Jacobsen, da Costa, Gabbidon, Ilunga, Parker, Behrami, Noble, Boa Morte, Obinna, Piquionne

Substitutes: Stech, Reid, Tomkins, Cole, Barrera, Kovac, Faubert

Manager: Avram Grant

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Formation view:

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                                                         Green

Jacobsen                     da Costa                                   Gabbidon                    Ilunga

Behrami                Noble                  Parker              Boa Morte                  Obinna

                                                         Piquionne
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Tactics:

Goalkeeping: With a great performance by Szczesny in the Carling Cup, Fabiansky will do good to avoid any mistakes. Saying that, Fabiansky was in excellent form against Man City and hope he can perform as confidently again.

Defence: With two clean sheets in a row, there's no reason we shouldn't look for a hattrick. Koscielny is back and after his solid display in the Cup win, our defence looks good. Stopping Piquionne should contain most of the Hammer's threat.

Midfield:After excellent performances against Man City and against Newcastle, our midfield will look to keep ticking and tear the West Ham defence apart.

Attack: Chamakh's home form(in terms of goals scored) is great, hope he can maintain it. Nasri is also in the form of his life and Arshavin should be wary of him and Theo - another in form player, who's in the bench. Hope he can produce some magic today.

Subs: My choice is Rosicky, Bendtner/Vela and Walcott.

Final Prediction:

A 4-0 win for Arsenal.