Arsenal predicted XI v West Ham as Mikel Merino decision made and £38m man drops out

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Arsenal will look to reduce the gap at the top of the Premier League table to five points when they take on West Ham on Saturday afternoon.

The Gunners are in good form in the Premier League, having seen off Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester City and Leicester City in their last three games.

Meanwhile, the Hammers will be desperate to end a poor run of games and drag themselves further away from the Premier League’s bottom three.

TBR Football looks at who Mikel Arteta could name in the Arsenal starting XI for the 3pm kick-off at the Emirates Stadium.

READ MORE: Neil Warnock predicts who’ll win between Arsenal and West Ham

Arsenal v West Ham team news

Arsenal are set to be without Takehiro Tomiyasu for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery.

Meanwhile, Ben White could make his first start since November after spending three months on the sidelines recovering from knee surgery.

As for West Ham, Lucas Paqueta has been ruled out after suffering an ankle injury in training.

Crysencio Summerville is facing a few weeks out of action with a hamstring injury, and Vladimir Coufal is also expected to miss out.

Niclas Fullkrug and Michail Antonio are long-term absentees for West Ham.

Mikel Merino tipped to miss out on Arsenal starting XI as Ben White replaces Jurrien Timber at right-back

Arsenal are likely to retain the bulk of the starting XI that beat Leicester last weekend.

One change could come at right-back, with Ben White making his first appearance of the year in place of Jurrien Timber.

The £38million Dutchman has done well at right-back but could certainly do with a rest, while White will be eager to get back in the fold.

Riccardo Calafiori is also a good shout to come in, but we predict Myles Lewis-Skelly will keep his place at left-back.

The Arsenal midfield is likely to be unchanged, which would mean Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Declan Rice as the three.

Mikel Merino is an option to start up front for the Gunners after his brace off the bench against Leicester.

However, we predict he’ll be kept on the bench, potentially to be used once again as a super sub.

This would mean a front three of Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard and Raheem Sterling once again.

Arsenal predicted starting XI (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Nwaneri, Trossard, Sterling