Arsenal can go eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table if they beat West Ham United on Boxing Day. After a month-long absence of domestic football due to the World Cup, the Gunners will be hoping to pick up where they left off before the mid-season pause.
A brace from Martin Odegaard against Wolves saw Arsenal go five points clear at the summit after City suffered a shock defeat to Brentford and with the Gunners in action before Pep Guardiola's side face Leeds United on Wednesday, December 28, that gap can be extended further.
Mikel Arteta does have the absence of Gabriel Jesus to contend with though and the Spaniard must make a decision on William Saliba after the defender returned from France World Cup duty last week.
READ MORE: Jesus, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu, Smith Rowe - Arsenal injury news and return dates ahead of West Ham
As always, many pundits, including Chris Sutton and Mikael Silvestre, have had their say on who might come away with a win. Former Arsenal and Manchester United man Silvestre has predicted a win for the Gunners despite the absence of Jesus.
Speaking to bettingexpert, he said: “I think Arsenal will continue to march and they should beat West Ham in that game because they’ve shown that it doesn’t really matter who they’re playing against, they’ll play the same type of football."
"They finish their chances and are pretty good defensively. Yeah they lost Jesus but I think they will be in good shape against West Ham and win this game.”
Silvestre's prediction: Arsenal win.
Sutton meanwhile, in his BBC Sport predictions where for the Boxing Day fixtures he will take on singer and West Ham fan Chesney Hawkes, has gone for a different score line and result to Silvestre.
He said: "The break probably came at the worst possible time for them [Arsenal], because of the form they were in, and there isn't a more significant player they could have lost to injury than Gabriel Jesus.
"People might point at his lack of goals before the World Cup but Jesus is integral to them in the way they press, and with his link-up play.
"He is irreplaceable, certainly from within their squad, so the seriousness of his injury will probably decide whether they try to make some signings in January.
"I feel like I have backed West Ham to be better than they have been on plenty of occasions already this season, but the one thing they should be here is tough to beat."
Sutton's prediction: 1-1.
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