Arsenal predicted lineup vs West Ham - Premier League | OneFootball

Arsenal's margin for error is ever so small if they want to get themselves back into the Premier League title race and only a win will do at West Ham United on Saturday.

The Gunners' two performances and results after the November international break have facilitated the resurgence of optimism among the fanbase after a tough start to the new season.

After back-to-back second place finishes, Mikel Arteta's squad harbour hope of going all the way this time around, but their current deficit to league leaders Liverpool is nine points. That will be cut to six with a win in east London ahead of the Reds' clash against Manchester City on Sunday.

Arteta is going to have to rotate over the coming weeks with fixtures arriving thick and fast, but there's unlikely to be drastic alterations to his team on Saturday evening.

Arsenal predicted lineup vs West Ham

Arsenal ran riot in Lisbon on Tuesday night / Carlos Rodrigues/GettyImages

GK: David Raya - His clean sheet rate is down from last year, but Raya is improving with each passing week. The Spaniard's a shoo-in between the sticks.

RB: Jurrien Timber - With Ben White out for as long as three months and Takehiro Tomiyasu still sidelined, we're going to see plenty of Timber for the next few weeks. Fortunately for the Gunners, the Dutchman's pretty good.

CB: William Saliba - Saliba passed the Viktor Gyokeres test with flying colours on Tuesday night and his consistently brilliant performances are somewhat going under the radar this term.

CB: Gabriel - The Brazilian is preparing for another physical tussle with Michail Antonio on Saturday evening and was back among the goals in midweek. There are some fears over a potential injury, to which Arteta responded in his press conference: "Wait and see."

LB: Riccardo Calafiori - Calafiori's recent knee injury has seen Arteta express some caution over his workload with the Italian defender starting but failing to complete Arsenal's previous two games.

CM: Thomas Partey - Partey's performance levels have been exceptional over the past month. The Ghanaian is locking down the number six role within Arteta's framework once again following a couple of injury-ravaged years.

CM: Declan Rice - A once undroppable figure should no longer be guaranteed his place in the starting XI. Rice hasn't been at it this season, but Arteta will likely give him the nod on his old stomping ground.

CM: Martin Odegaard - Nobody wants to endure Arsenal without their captain. Odegaard has restored a bit of romance to the Gunners' play and been instrumental in their previous two victories.

RW: Bukayo Saka - Mr Inevitable. Saka is working in delightful harmony with Odegaard and is delivering in the final third at an impressively relentless rate. He enjoyed himself on this ground back in February.

ST; Kai Havertz - Buy your Havertz stocks, people! The German hasn't exactly been prolific at the start of 2024/25, but he's already benefitted from Odegaard's return. With the captain in the team, there's less onus on Havertz to drift wide and can thus spend more time in the box.

LW: Gabriel Martinelli - Arsenal have focused much of their play down the right this season and have looked imbalanced at times. The Gunners need more from Martinelli, who's starting to score again, but the Brazilian has a tough assignment on Saturday up against Aaron Wan-Bissaka.