Arsenal should be energised by the 3-1 victory over Liverpool that revitalised their title charge, but this afternoon’s trip to West Ham does come with pressure.
Manchester City and Liverpool both won yesterday, meaning Arsenal must win to stay within two points of the summit. For those Arsenal fans of a more pessimistic persuasion, Tottenham also scored a last-minute winner against Brighton just as it looked like open water was opening up between the top three and the rest in the battle for Champions League qualification.
Arsenal’s club record signing Declan Rice faces his former club today having endured two unhappy outings against West Ham already this season. He came on as substitute in Arsenal’s 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat at the London Stadium, and was below-par in West Ham’s 2-0 victory at the Emirates in December which their travelling fans revelled in.
Predictably, should Arsenal drop points today then the issue of over-celebrating will crop up. Mikel Arteta does not expect that to be a problem in the title race.
“If I think when I have won Premier Leagues somewhere else, the answer would be: ‘big no’,” he said.
“My experience says no but maybe someone says ‘my experience, yes.’ Mine says no because I have seen how to celebrate.”
Moyes hopes having a bit of training time will bring West Ham back to the boil again.
West Ham were beaten 3-0 at Manchester United last weekend, which extended their winless run to six games through all competitions having also been knocked out of the FA Cup by Bristol City.
Defeat by United was, though, only the first loss in the Premier League since early December.
With a full week between games, Moyes hopes the additional time together as a group can help produce the required performance.
“When we were having game after game, we were looking forward to a break really and having some normal weeks,” Moyes said.
“We have had a normal week (without a midweek game) this week. We have just tried to give the players a little bit of time.
“It has meant more time training together, which we have needed because we have just been off the boil a little in the last month or so.
Full team news on the way shortly.