Paul Merson believes Arsenal will struggle to contain West Ham United’s front three of Felipe Anderson, Marko Arnautovic and Andy Carroll.
The London rivals will meet at the London Stadium in the early kick-off on Saturday afternoon.
Arsenal are currently fifth in the table and know that an emphatic victory could briefly move them into the Champions League places.
However, keeping goals out has been a tough task for Unai Emery’s side, having conceded 31 in the league already.
Manuel Pellegrini has virtually the same problem on the other side of the Thames, his Hammers team love to attack but tend to shirk their defensive work.
And, although that will make for an entertaining game, Merson believes his former side will struggle to deal with the pace and power of West Ham’s attacking trio.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “Arsenal struggle to stop goals going in and West Ham’s best form of defence is attack,
“I don’t know how Arsenal will cope with the likes of Carroll, Arnautovic and Anderson, but the Gunners are good going forward so it makes for an entertaining game.”
Hector Bellerin is set to return to first team action after his injury lay-off and will tasked with keeping Anderson quiet on the flank.
The Brazilian has eight goals this season and set up transfer rebel Arnautovic to score in the reverse fixture at the Emirates.
Carroll has also been a thorn in the side of Arsenal, bullying centre halves ever since he arrived in the Premier League with Newcastle United.
In the final season at Upton Park, he netted a hat-trick in a 3-3 draw where both sides threw caution to the wind.
