Kallstrom Starts – Predicted Arsenal Starting XI To Face West Ham

Arsenal entertain West Ham at the Emirates on Tuesday night looking to reclaim fourth spot in the Premier League table. Here is a predicted team by Gooner Mac.

It’s back to league action tomorrow night and the race for Champions League qualification is hotting up after Everton moved into fourth with a narrow 1-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday. Arsenal simply have to win on Tuesday to keep the pressure on the Toffees and it’s going to be a nervy night. The game is being shown live on Sky Sports but if you don’t have access you should keep up-to-date with the score and match stats or catch it on the radio as this is one you don’t want to miss.

Hopefully the squad isn’t going to be feeling the effects too much from Saturday’s energy-sapping FA Cup win over Wigan, but Arsene Wenger did confirm earlier that several players are facing late fitness tests.

Laurent Koscielny trained today after recovering from a calf injury that’s kept him out in recent weeks and the boss says he’ll make a late decision over his inclusion but I think we’ll see the Frenchman come in alongside Per Mertesacker at the back.

Kieran Gibbs is also expected to start having replaced Nacho Monreal midway through the second half on Saturday while Wojciech Szczesny will reclaim his No.1 shirt despite Lukasz Fabianski’s heroic display in the shoot-out.

Midfield is going to be an interesting area as we have few options at present. Jack Wilshere is of course still injured while Mathieu Flamini is still suspended, and with Aaron Ramsey unlikely to be risked having played over 100 minutes on Saturday, it opens the door for Kim Kallstrom to make his full debut alongside Mikel Arteta.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been suffering from tight muscles from the Wigan clash but I’d expect he’ll be okay to start again and we’ll need his energy and pace in attack. Tomas Rosicky also trained on Monday and is expected to come in which could see Santi Cazorla move to the left with Lukas Podolski possibly dropping out.

Olivier Giroud is almost certain to replace Yaya Sanogo up front, while Mesut Ozil is just short of fitness after only returning to full training today, so he joins Theo Walcott, Serge Gnabry and Abou Diaby in being unavailable.

Here’s the team I think Arsene will go with:

The team above should have enough to secure three points at home to the Hammers, but we know it’s not going to be easy. Sam Allardyce’s men will be well organised and hard to break down as they proved at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season so we’ll need to be at our best to get the win that will see us leapfrog Everton back into fourth place.

What team would you pick for the game? Share your views below.