A pair of embattled bosses are going to be squaring off at the Emirates on Wednesday night. Arsene Wenger might have finally gotten himself a bit of respite in the form of a draw against Manchester City, but his Arsenal side still has a lot to do at the end of the season to keep the Frenchman on good terms. Meanwhile, West Ham heads into this London derby having given manager Slaven Bilic the dubious "vote of confidence," which usually means anything but the fact that the board has the utmost confidence in his abilities to lead this team.
At 2:45 p.m. ET, tune into NBC Sports Live Extra for live television coverage of this English Premier League match on Wednesday, April 5, 2017, at Emirates Stadium.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Arsenal -250
West Ham +600
Draw +385
Over/Under 3
Odds Analysis
It's so hard to back the Gunners in the form they're in at the moment. They're set at -250 on the moneyline in this one, but this really is more a matter of West Ham's lulls at the moment instead of what Arsenal is doing right.
The one thing that both of these teams have in common is a lot of goals and a lot of goals allowed, and that's why the total is relatively high at a flat 3.
Key Injuries
For years and years, Arsenal has struggled with its net minding, but bringing in Petr Cech seemed to save the day. At this point, the Gunners are now using David Ospina in the pipes with Cech sidelined, and that isn't going to change in the next couple weeks at least. There are some greater concerns, though. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sat out against Manchester City with a hamstring injury, and Laurent Koscielny was taken off with an Achilles injury. With Aaron Ramsey out too, that's going to leave this team incredibly thin on a very short few days of prep against the Hammers.
West Ham's problems run deep as well. The list of players not likely or certainly not playing in this match is thick. Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell, Pedro Obiang, Angelo Ogbonna, Winston Reid, Diafra Sakho and Gokhan Tore are all out of the fold, and that's a big part of the reason why Bilic is on an incredibly toasty seat.
Recent Form
Could West Ham really end up ruing the day it blew a 1-0 lead on the road against Hull City and ended up losing 2-1? The Hammers are still seemingly comfortably beyond the relegation zone with eight matches left to play, but 33 points may or may not be enough to ultimately stay up. It won't take much more than that certainly, but that loss ended up putting Hull City on 27 points and gives the Tigers a better shot at survival. That's now four straight losses for West Ham to go with six straight matches without a victory.
Arsenal's point against Manchester City, particularly after falling behind 1-0 and 2-1 was a work of art. That won't get the Gunners all that much closer to the ultimate goal of finishing in the Top 4, but at least it stopped a rot that saw them into this spot. They had lost back-to-back matches in the EPL, fixtures which were surrounded by a dismissal effort in the last 16 of the Champions League against Bayern Munich at 10-2 and a couple easy matches in the FA Cup against Sutton United and Lincoln City.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
Andy Carroll has really been a rare bright spot for West Ham in this lack of poor form, but we wonder if he can put one behind Ospina. If the Gunners are going to take the full share of the spoils in this match, they're going to have to score at least twice, if not more. We think they can, but the better play here is the over, especially with as bright and offensive-minded as Bilic wants his side to play.
English Premier League Odds: Arsenal 3, West Ham 1
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