West Ham travel to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday knowing they have a difficult task ahead of them.
Despite suffering a series of big injuries to key players in recent weeks, Arsenal are currently enjoying a run of 15 games unbeaten as they attempt to catch Liverpool in the race for the Premier League title.
West Ham, meanwhile, are without a victory in four Premier League games under new boss Graham Potter.
So it’s a difficult task that awaits this weekend for Potter and his players.
Performances have improved over the last few weeks, barring the odd hiccups against Crystal Palace and Brentford, defeats in which the Hammers looked to have regressed instead.
But the general feeling remains that Potter is the right man to take West Ham forward if he’s given time to get it right.
The big question this weekend is how he approaches such a difficult game. With no win in four, the Hammers need to start picking up points in order to avoid being sucked into to a relegation battle. With Leicester at home up next, taking anything from north London would serve as a huge bonus.
It might seem impossible, but West Ham won this fixture 2-0 last season when it was expected that the Gunners would make easy work of David Moyes’ side.
So there is hope of a repeat this term, especially when you factor in Arsenal’s serious injury problems, which has left them without a recognised first-team striker to call upon.
With that in mind, here’s the XI Potter could pick to face Arsenal this weekend…
With Lucas Paqueta being ruled out by Potter with an ankle injury, we might see him opt for a pretty defensive looking back five, with the only real attacking threat coming from Mohammed Kudus, playing in his favoured No.10 role, and Jarrod Bowen.
Playing Kudus more centrally gives him more of a licence to attack when we have possession, but keeps him involved defensively when needed.
In defence, we might see the return of Jean-Clair Todibo at the back alongside Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos. Edson Alavarez and Tomas Soucek in midfield provide that additional defensive protection.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson do the same but can also provide help in attacking phases, especially on the right-hand side.
Carlos Soler might have a hybrid role, doing much of the pressing out of possession and but still providing an effective attacking outlet when in possession.
Some would’ve liked to see Evan Ferguson given his first start in claret and blue but this is probably not the game for him to be given a chance from the off. We won’t be expected to have much possession, so he would be acting as a pretty isolated target man for much of the game.
He’s a player who would be more effective off the bench should Potter opt to change things and go more attacking.
It will be interesting to see whether this is the way Potter approaches this one, or if he’s a little braver with a more attacking approach, perhaps with the idea of exploiting Arsenal’s injury problems and desperate need for points.
