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High noon West Ham vs Arsenal pivotal to Premier League title race, relegation battle

Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres (left) battles for possession with West Ham’s Max Kilman during their English Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium in October. – REUTERSPIC

And that would be fine if West Ham had enough fixtures left for a draw to feel really valuable. But they don’t. They need wins, especially with Spurs resurgent. At some point, West Ham have to go for it. And that’s against an Arsenal who look more willing to go for it than at any point over the past four months. How couldn’t they when you consider the boosts that Arteta’s side have enjoyed over the past week alone? There was first the revitalis ing nature of the sweeping 3-0 win over Fulham. There was then City’s draw at Everton. And then there was qualification for the greatest game in club football, and all the euphoria from that. That is a lot of good feeling in the space of five days, after weeks of angst. Arsenal will surely be on a wave. It helps that Myles Lewis-Skelly has restored badly needed positive energy in what might be an inspired return. It all looks so good for them. But that can also be precisely the moment when it goes bad, where teams get too settled. That wave can break. If West Ham do dig in, can the old frustration quickly return? Can Nuno exploit that? Can the very meaning of the title take over again? There’s so much at play here because there’s so much on the line. Even the Premier League has seen little like it.– The Independent

title by a point and Palace go down by three. In 1998-99, Blackburn were on the other end of that as a 0-0 draw at Ewood Park relegated them, but was also just enough for Manchester United to win the title by a point. In 2002-03, Bolton Wanderers’ shock 2-2 comeback against Arsenal gave them a point crucial to staying up over West Ham United, while just affording Manchester United crucial distance to Arsenal with three games left. In 2011-12, maybe the closest parallel to this Sunday, but with more games to go, Wigan Athletic beat United 2-0 to recharge their own survival surge while starting a stunning fall by Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. There was a similar situation in 2013-14 when Sunderland surprisingly beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge to turn the tide at both ends. Important as these and a handful of other games were, none of them involved direct consequences that are quite as acute as what today might allow. The stakes may even have an overt effect on the very game state. In normal circumstances, you would think that West Ham’s best possibility of a result would be to sit tight and to frustrate Arsenal. It’s worked well for Nuno so many times this season. It’s been proven to work well in some key games against Arsenal.

go some way to deciding the title, but also relegation. Consider the cascading stakes. If Arsenal win, they will be able to see the trophy. It would leave fixtures against a relegated Burnley and a Crystal Palace preparing for a Europa Conference final three days later. There’s also the possibility of City being affected by the sense of the title drifting away. On the other side, a West Ham defeat would mathematically secure Leeds United’s survival, two days before Daniel Farke’s side have an away game at Tottenham Hotspur. It’s impossible not to think Leeds’s intensity would be affected, and Spurs could secure another crucial win. That could be fatal for West Ham. It only ratch ets up that pressure. Conversely, if Arsenal fail to win, the immediate consequences aren’t as pro nounced, but there is the potential of that doom and gloom returning to the club as West Ham enjoy a new life. There’d be yet another swing; a twist. One of the most remarkable things about all of this, given the richness of Premier League history, is how rarely there’s been a fixture like it. The compara ble examples are few. In 1994-95, a badly stuttering Blackburn Rovers beat Crystal Palace 2-1 four games from the end, which saw Rovers win the

BY MIGUEL DELANEY

IT’S FUNNY how momentum in football can work, how swiftly the feeling at clubs can change. You only have to look at Arsenal. There’s been that shift in mood over the remark able last few weeks, but also a shift in focus over the last few days. On Tuesday, on the day of a Champions League semifinal, most people – including in the dressing room – were barely talking about it. They were almost exclusively dis cussing Manchester City’s 3-3 slip at Everton and especially what it meant. By Wednesday, after that victory over Atletico Madrid, there was none of that. It was all about the giddiness of qualifying for the Champions League final. Mikel Arteta has obviously been con scious of that, so is aware he has to let his players enjoy the moment and feel what it means… but that they also need to be fully focused for today. It’s all that West Ham have been think ing about, after all. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have had no distractions like the Champions League. Everything builds up to this. And in so many ways. Arsenal’s visit to West Ham today has the potential to be the most decisive Premier League game of the season, and maybe in the competition’s history, as regards the direct consequences. It could

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