The rearranged game against West Ham will give Arsenal a great opportunity to make amends for back to back defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea, but the Hammers will also have something to prove following a four-match winless run.

After the successive league defeats saw the Gunners slip to sixth in the standings, this is clearly a must-win game for the hosts if they are to remain close to fourth-placed Tottenham.

Beating West Ham will be no easy task now that the team appear to be far from the desired form, but the hosts are, nonetheless, 1.44 (4/9) favourites with BetFred to return to winning ways.

With Olivier Giroud pretty disappointing against Chelsea, Arsene Wenger will be hoping Lukas Podolski recovers from an illness in time to face the Hammers, which could see Theo Walcott deployed as a centre forward.

The England international did pretty well every time he was played in his preferred position, so maybe you should back him to score against Arsenal, at odds of 2.05 (21/20) offered at bet365.

Mikel Arteta is closing in on his return from injury, but this game is likely to come too soon for the Spaniard.

Aaron Ramsey could come in for Francis Coquelin, but Tomas Rosicky and Lukasz Fabianski remain sidelined.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Szczesny – Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs – Ramsey, Diaby – Cazorla, Wilshire, Podolski – Walcott.

West Ham enjoyed a bright start to the league campaign, but their performances started to drop as the festive period began to approach.

The Hammers ended one disappointing run with a narrow win over Norwich, but only to embark on a new four-match winless run.

Sam Allardyce then decided to act and secure the signings of Joe Cole and Marouane Chamakh, both of whom were instrumental in a good performance against QPR at the weekend.

The promising showing did not prove to be enough for a much needed win, but it is bound to give the Hammers something to build on ahead of the clash at the Emirates.

Considering their opponents have been pretty disappointing of late, there may be some value in backing West Ham to score, at odds of 1.73 (8/11) offered at Stan James.

Striker Marouane Chamakh is ineligible to face his parent club, while James Collins, Andy Carroll and George McCartney are all out injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Jaaskelainen – Demel, Tomkins, Reid, O’Brien – J. Cole, Noble, Diame, Jarvis – Nolan – C. Cole.

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