The Boxing Day fixture at Upton Park sees West Ham United face Arsenal, with both sites desperate for three points at opposite ends of the table.

The hosts sit just one point and one place above the Premier League’s bottom three, and anything other than three points here could see them leapfrogged by both Crystal Palace and Fulham, who play at Aston Villa and Norwich City respectively.

Kevin Nolan is set to return to the Hammers’ starting line-up after completing a three-match suspension, while James Tomkins will continue in defence despite being charged with assaulting a police officer.

The West Ham captain is 13.0 (12/1) to open the scoring with Coral ahead of Carlton Cole, who is an 11.0 (10/1) shot with the same firm.

The home win is widely available at 6.0 (5/1), with Arsenal odds on favourites at 1.67 (4/6) with William Hill. The draw is 4.1 (31/10) with Bet Victor.

The Gunners will reclaim top spot if they take all three points and Liverpool fail to win at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City have a 100% league record under Manuel Pellegrini.

Jack Wilshere misses the game as he completes a two-match suspension, though Laurent Koscielny may return after missing Monday’s goalless draw with Chelsea with a cut to his knee.

Olivier Giroud is favourite to get the first goal of the game at a widely available price of 6.0 (5/1), with Theo Walcott a 7.0 (6/1) chance and top scorer Aaron Ramsey 9.0 (8/1) with several firms.

Arsenal ran out 5-1 winners the last time the sides met back in January – their sixth successive victory against West Ham.

Arsene Wenger’s men have kept six clean sheets in their last nine league games, while surprisingly, no team in the division has managed to shut out their opponents more times than their opponents.

With this in mind, the 0-0 scoreline is worth considering, and is priced at 15.0 (14/1) with Sky Bet while an Arsenal win to nil can be backed at 2.9 (19/10) with Coral who offer 13.0 (12/1) for Sam Allardyce’s men to emerge victorious without conceding.