MANCITYZENS

Arsenal v West Ham, Saturday 4th Oct, Preview

Gary McLaughlin

OCT 5, 2025

Playing their third match in seven days, Arsenal take on fellow Londoners, West Ham at the Emirates Stadium this Saturday and Gunners boss, Mikel Arteta will hope to continue with his teams recent winning run of form. That winning run of form began on September 24th with victory over Port Vale in the Carabao cup followed by a late Gabriel winner in stoppage time against Newcastle United at St.James Park last Sunday. That win was of huge importance to Arteta as it leaves the Gunners just two points adrift of leaders Liverpool after six games following the merseysiders 2-1 defeat on the previous day to Crystal Palace. Arsenal's win against the Magpies was then followed up by a midweek Champions League win against Greek opposition Olympiacos by two goals to nil and it is a perfect two from two for the Gunners in their group, goals from Martinelli and a late Saka goal securing the three points there. Looking ahead to Saturday and Arsenal will meet a Hammers side with a new face at the helm though in former Wolves, Tottenham, and Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo.

West Ham

Ironically, West Ham's only win this season came against Nuno's former club Nottingham Forest, back at the end of August with their only other point since that victory coming last weekend against Everton in a 1-1 draw, Jarrod Bowen equalising after Michael Keane had given the Toffee's the lead. That accumulation of 4 points sees the Hammers uncomfortably sitting in 19th position in the league and desperate to turn that around as soon as possible. They will take heart though from their record at the Emirates in the previous two seasons where they managed to take all points on each occasion, a 1-0 win last season (Bowen) and a 2-0 victory in the 23/24 season with Soucek and former Gunner, Mavropanos providing the goals. Bowen for one, will fancy his chances of getting on the scoresheet again as he has already scored 5 goals against the Gunners over his career. From an Arsenal point of view it is Bukayo Saka who figures most against the Hammers in recent times, scoring four and assisting in four of his last seven league appearances, five of those contributions coming in his last two games (Three goals & two assists). Another positive for the Arsenal is that new signing, Eberechi Eze has scored two and assisted on three other occasions against the Hammers, an indication maybe of how this game is going to play out.

Our first London derby of the season 🫡 pic.twitter.com/S3IfXtC9Yy
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 3, 2025

What the managers say

Speaking ahead of the Saturday afternoon fixture against West Ham, Mikel Arteta said "We want to continue to play and flow and dominate games in the manner that we are doing, and it’s going to be a key fixture. In the last two seasons we had two defeats against them here, it's something we need to put right, and tomorrow is another opportunity to do that". In a similar fashion and maybe a little cautiously, Nuno said "It's going to be a really tough game. It's a new game, and new things will happen, even though we have a good record there. That gives us confidence, but we know we're facing a good opponent, and it's going to be a good test". With both sides keen to get the win for differing reasons, it is set up to be an exciting encounter and competitive London derby. Arteta would dearly love to mark his 300th game in charge with his Gunners moving to the top of the table while on the other hand, Nuno Espirito Santo would welcome a first win as Hammers boss.