Old foes meet as Pellegrini hopes to get one over on Arsenal boss in London derby

Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham host Arsenal this weekend in a match that sees Pellegrini face Unai Emery for the second time since both made the switch to manage in England. During their careers they’ve met 13 times, mainly when both managed in Spain, the away boss having a worse record against his Chilean rival losing six and only winning five.

The Hammers have the longest injury list in the league with nine, but Javier Hernandez and Fabian Balbuena could prove to be the biggest misses for the East London side. Hernandez (hamstring) has been training with the side but will not be available whilst Balbuena has suffered a setback with his recovery from a knee injury.

With key attacking players Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko and Manuel Lanzini all out through injury, the return of Marko Arnautović could be imperative for Pellegrini’s men, providing the Austrian is in the right frame of mind following transfer speculation this week.

Samir Nasri may feature alongside him as the Frenchman looks set to play his first match in the Premier League since August 2016.

Arsenal could have three defenders back for this derby game as Hector Bellerin (calf), Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal (both hamstring) are all back in training. Mesut Ozil (knee) could also feature, though Emery has confirmed that he doesn’t know who will feature out of those, he’ll only know after Friday’s training session.

What the managers have said-

Pellegrini – “This year we have demonstrated that we can play as a big team against any team. We play for three points from the first whistle, and we will do so again against Arsenal.”

Emery – “I think West Ham are improving and they also have good individual players with quality, like Anderson, like Arnautovic, who are very good players.”

Last time the two-sides met Arsenal kicked off their huge unbeaten run as they ran out 3-1 victors after coming from behind at the Emirates. Arnautović scored for West Ham before goals from Monreal and Danny Welbeck either side of an Issa Diop own goal meant that the Hammers sealed their fate of failing to beat Arsenal in their last seven matches.

Top Scorers-
Felipe Anderson is joint top scorer with his Austrian team-mate Arnautović both have eight goals this season. The later of the two has two goals and two assists against their upcoming opponents having scored in that 3-1 loss earlier on in the campaign.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been on fire for the fifth-placed side scoring 14 goals in 21 Premier League appearances meaning he’s joint top scorer with Tottenham’s Harry Kane.