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West Ham United need a big improvement on performances prior to the World Cup, with David Moyes\u2019 team sat in 16th position in the Premier League table, just one point above the bottom three.<\/p>\n
Their task couldn\u2019t restart in much more difficult fashion though, as they face the current league leaders Arsenal in their Boxing Day clash, the return of top-flight club football in England after the finals in Qatar.<\/p>\n
Both teams will have players on show who performed during the tournament, raising questions over players\u2019 fitness levels and how they might suffer as the season goes on.<\/p>\n
The Hammers can go 14th with a win if other results go their way, while three points for Mikel Arteta\u2019s side would extend their lead as Man City are not in action until two days later.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything you need to know ahead of the match.<\/p>\n
When is the match?<\/p>\n
Arsenal vs West Ham kicks off at 8pm GMT on Monday 26 December at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n
Where can I watch?<\/p>\n
This and all other Boxing Day fixtures will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video. That means while it\u2019s not on a terrestrial or digital TV channel, it can be streamed via any TV or device which has access to the Prime Video app or desktop website. If you\u2019re not an Amazon Prime Video subscriber start a free 30-day trial here. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.<\/p>\n
What is the team news?<\/p>\n
Of Arsenal\u2019s World Cup contingent, Gabriel Jesus faces two months out after knee surgery, Takehiro Tomiyasu had a knock and William Saliba was involved right up to the final – though given his minimal involvement with France, he could in theory come straight back in. Emile Smith Rowe is still out and Reiss Nelson was injured in a warmup game last week.<\/p>\n
For West Ham, Nayef Aguerd and Alphonse Areola are similar to Saliba in being at the World Cup until the final weekend. Kurt Zouma is out after knee surgery, Maxwel Cornet suffered a recurrence of injury during his rehab and there are doubts over Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and Gianluca Scamacca.<\/p>\n
Predicted lineups<\/p>\n
ARS – Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Nketiah<\/p>\n
WHU – Fabianski, Johnson, Kehrer, Dawson, Emerson, Soucek, Rice, Benrahma, Paqueta, Fornals, Bowen<\/p>\n
Odds<\/p>\n
Arsenal 6\/1<\/p>\n
Draw 7\/2<\/p>\n
West Ham 6\/1<\/p>\n
Prediction<\/p>\n
The Gunners need to start fast and keep their optimism and self-belief riding high – and an undercooked Hammers might be an ideal opponent for that to be the case. Arsenal 2-0 West Ham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel\u2019s Delaney\u2019s free weekly newsletter West Ham United need a big improvement on performances prior to the World Cup, with David Moyes\u2019 team sat in 16th position in the Premier League table, just one point above the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n