At a Glance:
- Arsenal and Manchester City’s title race is heading right down to the wire
- Premier League legend believes that West Ham will give Arsenal a tricky matchup
- Certain factors could be hugely influential in if Arsenal can win at the London Stadium
With the race to the Premier League title drawing to a close at the end of the month, it is essential for both Arsenal and Manchester City to pick up as many points as possible along the way.
Manchester City only have Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Aston Villa left to play, while Arsenal will face West Ham, Burnley, and also Crystal Palace, who will be their opponents on the final day of the season.
The Gunners face West Ham later today on Sunday, and it is an important game for both; Arsenal want the three points for the title race, West Ham want three points to help in their fight against relegation.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Jeremie Aliadiere on Mikel Arteta’s style of play and the Champions League final
Joe Cole believes that if Arsenal beat West Ham they will win the title, despite ‘difficult’ matchup
Ex-Chelsea hero and now-pundit Joe Cole went on record about his predictions regarding Gameweek 36 of the Premier League, offering an overview of how he thinks proceedings might go.
“If Arsenal beat West Ham, I think the Premier League title is theirs. When we looked at the fixtures a few weeks ago, we picked out Everton as a tricky one for Man City, which they did drop points. We also picked out West Ham away for Arsenal.
“West Ham have dropped off a little bit from a few weeks ago, but it’s a London derby – and they are desperate. There are so many threads that go through this particular story, I just think West Ham will turn up and make it difficult. I can’t see Arsenal wiping the floor with them in this game.”
It seems to be the consensus take that Arsenal are not going to romp to a win over West Ham, and that their East London opponents are going to give them a tough task to break down their defense and generate strong opportunities that will win the Gunners the game.
West Ham have been in decent form over their last five games, having two wins, a draw and two losses in a tight contest with Tottenham to see who will be the last team to get relegated down to the Championship.
Arsenal will be hoping for certain factors if they are to win against West Ham
There are a couple of things that Mikel Arteta will be desperate to happen if his team want to return from the London Stadium victorious.
The first factor is set-pieces, which Arsenal have scored 27 of so far in their league campaign—something that the Gunners have been both complimented and criticised for, with some saying they have an overreliance on set pieces.
Another thing Arsenal will want is the form of Viktor Gyokeres to continue, but most importantly, that he can keep up his work rate that impressed so many in his display versus Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final second leg.
