Boxing Day derby for Premier League leaders Arsenal

In front of their home crowd in London, Arsenal FC welcomes its opponent and at the same time city rivals West Ham United to Boxing Day. On the first Premier League match day after the 2022 World Cup, The Premier League leaders will start with a supposedly easy opponent, since 15 places in the table separate them with West Ham. But the thing is that both London clubs actually only train a few kilometers apart, and this is also clearly reflected in the odds as well as in our experts' tips. 

The clear favorites Arsenal are currently number 1 in the English Premier League. It was a great start to the season and we're even ahead of title favorites Manchester City. The Skyblues follow directly in 2nd place, but before the break for the World Cup they were already five points ahead. Now they will try everything to defend the first place in the table and to make the sensational championship perfect. The current situation of city rivals West Ham can be described as almost as exciting, but more depressing . 16th place in the table there is no time to rest because they are only two places above the relegation places. With 14 points accumulated so far, they are just one point higher than being in the relegation zone and just four more than the bottom of the Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

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Arsenal analysis

The chance of winning the title has not been as great as this season for a few years. The real favorite for the title, City, is playing as strong as usual, but has already dropped a few points. The rest of the Premier League's usual strong teams appear to be struggling this season and Arsenal FC's title window has probably never been bigger in recent years than it is now. It was believed that the season would be good, but no fan would have dared to dream of this current situation.

So far this season they have only lost once in the league and once they have not managed to get beyond a draw. They are now unbeaten in the Premier League for eight games and have won 12 of their last 15 games in total. A very good form which they will try to maintain.

For Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta there probably couldn't be a better opponent for Boxing Day. Against West Ham United he was able to coach his team to an average of 2.6 points per game. In five games he has only had to settle for a draw once, while celebrating four wins.

With just eleven goals conceded from the 14 games played so far, they share first place for the fewest goals conceded with surprise team Newcastle United. But a strong defensive performance in this case does not mean that little goes on the offensive. Already 33 goals could be scored this season. This corresponds to the second best value in the league. Only Manchester City could score more goals with their extraordinary striker Haaland.

West Ham analysis

Despite the close proximity of the two clubs in London, their respective pre-game situations couldn't be any different. While they're full of euphoria at Arsenal FC, as a West Ham United fan have to hope that they don't get relegated from the Premier League. They are just one point away from the red spots and if they don't collect a few points as quickly as possible, disaster could come sooner than they thought.

Actually, they would have tried to strengthen themselves with some newcomers in the summer. But now, just before the first half of the season end, you can say that this plan hasn't really worked out yet. Goalkeeper Areola and central defender Kehrer were brought in from Paris Saint-Germain for a fee of just over 20 million euros. Central defender Nayef Aguerd has been signed for a whopping 35 million euros from Stade Rennes in France. €36m was paid for center forward Gianluca Scamacca. The most expensive purchase this season Lucas Paquetá was signed for almost €43m and has only had three assists so far.

Why they have to fear relegation at West Ham is not understandable. At least it shouldn't be due to the quality of the players. They put some expensive and also very expensive and highly acclaimed players in their own ranks. Especially in midfield with star player Declan Rice (€80 million market value) and other top performers they should be able to convince. The defense is solid and with only 17 goals conceded in 15 games one belongs to the upper average. The offensive causes concern, because with 12 goals scored, they have the third-worst value in the league.

Arsenal - West Ham: What to expect? 

An Arsenal win seems almost inevitable. However, since there is only a quote of 1.49 for tip 1, this tip can be used in a combination bet. Furthermore, we don't believe that West Ham's poor attacking team will score against Arsenal's good defense, and especially not away from home. Both teams score no. You get this bet for odds of 1.93. Due to the fact that West Ham is not playing badly defensively this season, we do not expect a shooting match from Arsenal FC. We recommend a bet under 2.5 goals which you get for odds of 2.09.

• Arsenal to win at odds of 1.49
• Under 2.5 at odds of 2.09
• Both Teams to Score No at odds of 1.93

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.