Arsenalvs.West Ham

The Brighton & Hove Albion loanee came off the bench for the second half of last weekend's 1-0 home loss to Brentford, replacing Carlos Soler for his West Ham debut.

While Ferguson could not prevent Graham Potter's men from slumping to their sixth loss in eight matches, he is the most natural centre-forward available at the moment given Niclas Fullkrug and Michail Antonio's absences.

As a result, Potter should throw Ferguson into the Emirates bear pit in place of Soler, as the Republic of Ireland international joins Lucas Paqueta, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen in the final third.

Soler off for Ferguson was one of three half-time alterations that Potter made against Brentford, another of which saw midfield fulcrum Tomas Soucek taken off for James Ward-Prowse.

West Ham may very well need to rely on dead-ball situations to get something out of Saturday's derby, so it would not be a shock to see set-piece specialist Ward-Prowse join Edson Alvarez in the middle of the park.

However, Emerson Palmieri - the third player taken off at the break last weekend - should reprise his role in defence alongside Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Alphonse Areola, Max Kilman and ex-Gunners defender Dinos Mavropanos.

West Ham United possible starting lineup:

Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson; Ward-Prowse, Alvarez; Bowen, Paqueta, Kudus; Ferguson

Written by

Ben Knapton