It is very hard for me to understand quite how the Gunners are not EPL champions elect, instead it looks like Leicester City and I never thought that I would be typing those words in my lifetime. Arsenal again faltered when the pressure was on and now, that it is off , we have seen a return to some of their better form and they have looked decent once more in back to back wins and cleansheets over Everton and Watford, scoring six in the process. They might not have beaten much (both teams are out of sorts), but confidence will have been boosted and Alexis Sanchez (Gunners are 10-1-0 when he scores and the last ten of those have all gone "over") is returning to form, Laurent Koscielny is back and they look far more composed with him in the line up and the performances of Mohamed Elneny and Alex Iwobi offer huge promise. They looked booked for top 3, so will surely not make their final trip to the Boleyn Ground with eyes on anything but maximum points and to try and put some pressure on the top two, if the Foxes are out of reach, Arsenal will still be motivated to finish above Tottenham, their deadliest rival.
United have had a final season to remember at Upton Park , look sure to finish top 6 and are still not out of the running for a Champions League spot, although back to back 2-2 draws have made that difficult. They are still in the FA Cup and have a big quarter final replay with Manchester United here in midweek. That could distract them, with a Wembley appearance up for grabs, but they are at full strength today and will surely look to keep the CL dream alive a little longer. When everything clicks, they have looked as good as anyone in the Premier league this season and are unbetaen on home soil in 15 starts (9-6-0) in all competitions.
Arsenal are unbeaten here in eight visits and have scored two or more goals in the last seven. United have conceded seven in their last four starts and with a point having very limited value to either side, it is easy to see both teams on the scoresheet today and the Hammers seven London derby games this season have averaged 3.29 goals and they have scored in each, two or more in five, Arsenal's eight starts against fellow top six teams have produced 3.625 goals per game and we will surely see more of the same this lunchtime.
Minikommentit