Seeking to inflict a fourth successive defeat on their London rivals, Arsenal make the short journey across the capital to meet West Ham United in Wednesday's EFL Cup fourth-round tie.
Both sides emerged 1-0 victors from their third-round affairs, as the Irons sneaked past Lincoln City, while Mikel Arteta's troops narrowly overcame Brentford.
Match preview
© Reuters
Yet to add an EFL Cup trophy to their cabinet - only getting as far as the final once in 1981 - West Ham's hopes of adding domestic silverware to their Europa Conference League crown from last term are wafer-thin if recent results are anything to go by.
David Moyes's troops made hard work of their third-round contest with Lincoln City, only sinking their third-tier foes courtesy of a Tomas Soucek winner with 20 minutes left to play, but the hosts' eye-catching start to the campaign is now a thing of the past amid a four-game winless run.
A 2-2 draw with Newcastle United was respectable, but a 4-1 Aston Villa humbling, 2-1 Europa League beating at the hands of Olympiacos and 1-0 home loss to Everton - who defended with vigour and stole all three points with a Dominic Calvert-Lewin strike - have set off a few alarm bells.
As well as going five games in all competitions without a clean sheet, West Ham's failure to make the net bulge against Everton marked the first time in 2023 that the Hammers had drawn a blank in a home match, having previously breached the opposition backline in 18 straight contests at the London Stadium.
Juggling three competitions during an unforgiving winter period appears to be catching up to the Declan Rice-less West Ham, whose fans may or may not give the £105m man a warm welcome back to his old home, but managing domestic and continental duties has so far not proved a massive problem for their in-form visitors.
© Reuters
Treated to a pair of man-of-the-match performances from their two leading marksmen, Gooners witnessed Gabriel Jesus run the show against Sevilla before injury woes reared their ugly heads once again for the Brazilian, who handed control of the attacking reins to Eddie Nketiah for the visit of Sheffield United.
Nearly two years on from registering his first Arsenal hat-trick in the EFL Cup, an indomitable Nketiah recorded Premier League treble number one against the Blades, who also succumbed to a Fabio Vieira penalty and Takehiro Tomiyasu's maiden Gunners goal in a 5-0 annihilation.
Now 10 games without defeat since the new top-flight campaign kicked off - a feat only North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur can share - Arsenal required just the one goal to secure a safe passage into round four of the EFL Cup, as an early Reiss Nelson winner sent Brentford packing in September.
Few Arsenal fans should be losing sleep over EFL Cup exits, but having not hoisted the trophy aloft since the 1992-93 season - when Paul Merson and Steve Morrow sunk Sheffield Wednesday - some feel that another run to a mid-season piece of silverware is overdue.
The Gunners have only been knocked out in one of their last six fourth-round ties - losing to Liverpool on penalties in 2019 following an incredible 5-5 draw at Anfield - but they memorably threw away a two-goal lead at the London Stadium in April, where a 2-2 stalemate with West Ham put another nail in their title coffin.
Team News
© Reuters
While Edson Alvarez and Lucas Paqueta both picked up milestone bookings in the loss to Everton - the latter needlessly entering the book for a verbal outburst - their suspensions will instead carry over to Saturday's Premier League game with Brentford, meaning both are fine to feature on Wednesday.
Emerson Palmieri will vacate the naughty step to make space for Alvarez and Paqueta, having served his ban for accumulating five yellow cards, and Moyes is therefore blessed with a full complement of players for the fourth round.
Despite the calibre of opponent, rotation will almost definitely be on the cards for the hosts, who should field two ex-Gunners in Lukasz Fabianski and Dinos Mavropanos at the back, while third-round matchwinner Soucek is primed to return to the first XI too.
In contrast, the Arsenal physios are still looking after long-term ACL victim Jurrien Timber, while Jesus (hamstring) and the injury-riddled Thomas Partey (muscle) are now confirmed to be missing for at least a few weeks.
No fresh concerns have arisen from the pummelling of Sheffield United, though, and Arteta will also offer opportunities to a plethora of second-string players, including Jorginho, Fabio Vieira, Reiss Nelson and potentially Mohamed Elneny; former Hammers captain Rice should drop down to the bench at his old stomping ground.
Having resisted calls to re-establish the old goalkeeping hierarchy, Arteta should now bring Aaron Ramsdale back into the XI over David Raya after the Englishman made a handful of match-winning interventions in the third-round success over Brentford.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Kehrer, Ogbonna, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Ward-Prowse; Cornet, Fornals, Benrahma; Ings
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; White, Tomiyasu, Gabriel, Kiwior; Vieira, Jorginho, Havertz; Nelson, Nketiah, Trossard
We say: West Ham United 0-2 Arsenal
Having finally been stunted on home soil, West Ham are fighting an uphill battle to regain their golden touch against an Arsenal backline who have proven an extremely tough nut to crack more often than not on the road this term.
A raft of rotations from both managers means that neither capital outfit may be at their best, but barring any April-esque capitulations, Arteta's charges ought to make the most of West Ham's dip in form to stroll into the quarter-finals.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
