West Ham United v Arsenal: Premier League – live! | Football

West Ham United will be playing in their famous claret and blue. Plus the addition of some Rainbow Laces, in support of Stonewall’s campaign to make the game more inclusive for LGBT people.

Arsenal will play in yellow, with bruised-banana zig-zags. A delightful homage to this bonny sweater from the early 1990s. Arsenal should never have changed that badge. The Arsenal sponsor for those of a certain vintage, too.

The pre-match thoughts of Freddie Ljungberg, who is talking a good attack-minded game. “There are a lot of games going on in December, so there is fatigue and stuff. We want to get a little energy into the team and shake things up a little bit. Martinelli has done really well in the Europa League, scoring goals for us. He works hard and is very quick, I think he will do really well. Pepe did really well in the second half in the last game. I want him to be who he is, go one against one, and be difficult to read. At the same time I want him to do his defensive work, that’s important playing away from home.”

West Ham make one change to the team named for the defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Sebastien Haller drops to the bench, having scored just four times so far this season, and only one in his last 12. Michail Antonio returns to take his place.

The 18-year-old striker Gabriel Martinelli starts his first Premier League game for Arsenal. He replaces Alexandre Lacazette. That’s one of four changes to the side that went down at home to Brighton & Hove Albion. Calum Chambers and Kieran Tierney replace David Luiz and Sead Kolasinac at the back, while Nicolas Pepe takes Joe Willock’s spot.

West Ham United: Martin, Fredericks, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Snodgrass, Noble, Rice, Fornals, Felipe Anderson, Antonio.
Subs: Zabaleta, Roberto, Sanchez, Haller, Diop, Masuaku, Holland.

Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Chambers, Papastathopoulos, Tierney, Torreira, Xhaka, Pepe, Ozil, Martinelli, Aubameyang.
Subs: Lacazette, Maitland-Niles, Luiz, Nelson, Martinez, Guendouzi, Saka.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).

Welcome to the re-run of the 1980 FA Cup final. That’s how all the kids are styling this, right? Ah memories! Trevor Brooking’s header, Willie Young on Paul Allen, a nice big riff in Fever Pitch, all that. Nearly 40 years on, that remains West Ham’s last trophy. Since then, they’ve mainly spent their time packing their teams with top talent and finding themselves inexplicably involved in relegation battles.

The Hammers are in bother again. They’ve won just one of their last nine league matches, an eyebrow-raising victory at Chelsea a couple of Saturdays ago. It’s a dismal run that’s seen them plummet down the table. They’ve gone 3-0 down in their last two home fixtures. They’re just a single point better off than Southampton in the relegation spots, and look what a mess they’ve been.

You’d definitely file West Ham under Too Good To Go Down … but then the club has been here before, too many times, so nobody will be taking anything for granted. They could desperately do with three points that’d whizz them up to 13th place at least, a result that would change the picture and the mood totally. It might also be what’s required to save Manuel Pellegrini’s job, which is hanging from a shoogly peg.

Oh look! Here come Arsenal. The Gunners are in turmoil, having sacked off Unai Emery, then failed to get a honeymoon bounce under caretaker Freddie Ljungberg. They’re on a nine-game winless streak in all competitions, and can’t defend for toffee right now, having shipped two goals in their last five matches, and failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 11. It’s their worst run since 1977, and their worst start to a season since 1994-95. They’re only four clear of the dropzone themselves. A win here would buy the club some precious time and space in which to do some calm thinking.

Two teams not currently in best of nick, then. Which could either make for some shoddy viewing, or glorious entertainment! We’re plumping for the latter. Can the Hammers replicate their Declan Rice-inpsired 1-0 win of last season? Or could the Gunners revisit their 5-1 victory here in 2016? Anything could happen, and it should be fun finding out. It’s on!

Kick off: 8pm BST.