Arsenal v Newcastle
The Gunners’ Premier League season has already descended into a chase for the top four and the annual battle to finish higher than Tottenham after another lacklustre performance in midweek.
The lion’s share of possession at West Ham added up to very little after they were unable to break down an organised backline with just three attempts on target the result from all their huffing and puffing.
It could have been much worse if Javier Hernandez’s 11th-hour strike had not rattled back off the bar and a similar problem will be posed by Saturday’s visitors as they are going to do little more than sit in and defend in numbers.
The good news for Arsene Wenger is Toon are enduring both a desperate run of results and crisis of confidence currently which even a manager of Rafa Benitez’s quality and stature is struggling to put right.
They grafted away once more against Everton in midweek but could not get level after Karl Darlow’s first-half blunder before frustrations boiled over with perennial naughty boy Jonjo Shelvey getting himself red-carded late on.
There have been times during a run of just one point in eight games when they were a bounce of the ball or the width of a post away from altering the course of events, which suggests they are still capable of creating a chance or two at the Emirates Stadium and putting some pressure on the hosts.
That said, I very much have my doubts whether they can sustain any advantage for 90 minutes and land a 12/1 shock but I doubt they will be walloped either so may have to settle for heading north on the back of another morale-sapping narrow reverse.