Arsenal vs West Ham: TV channel, live stream, team news & prediction

Arsenal host West Ham United on Wednesday evening in a meeting between two sides vying for the Premier League's fourth place.

The top three in England (if not the continent) have begun to pull away from the rest of the division as the season's halfway point approaches, leaving just one last qualification berth for the ever-lucrative Champions League. Arsenal and West Ham are separated by just two points in this race but have the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham - if not others - targeting the same spot.

Here's all you need to know about the upcoming clash between two of the chasing pack.

How to watch Arsenal vs West Ham on TV/live stream

When is kick off? Wednesday 15 December, 20:00 (GMT)
Where is the match being played? Emirates Stadium
TV channel/live stream? BT Sport 1 (UK), UNIVERSO+ (US), DAZN (Canada)
Highlights? BT Sport YouTube Channel, Match of the Day (BBC One 10.35pm - UK)
Referee? Anthony Taylor
VAR? Chris Kavanagh

Arsenal team news

Arsenal's most notable absentee for their 3-0 win over Southampton on the weekend was enforced. Manager Mikel Arteta took the decision to leave club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the matchday squad for a 'disciplinary breach'.

Arteta also dropped his skipper in March for the north London derby against Tottenham - which, much like last Saturday, was vindicated with a victory - but swiftly restored him for the next Premier League fixture, incidentally against West Ham.

Scarcely used defender Sead Kolasinac and second-choice goalkeeper Bernd Leno are doubts for a midweek runout by virtue of their lowly squad status and injury rather than any poor timekeeping.

You can read Arsenal's predicted lineup here.

West Ham team news

West Ham's mounting injury woes are unhelpfully concentrated in one area of the squad: defence. While Angelo Ogbonna's season was all but concluded with a knee injury against Liverpool, fellow centre back Kurt Zouma joins full back Ben Johnson in the treatment room with hamstring issues.

Ryan Fredericks' continued absence doesn't carry quite the same weight but left back Aaron Cresswell has been a significant loss for the past four matches after painfully colliding with a post at Manchester City.

You can read West Ham's predicted lineup here.

Arsenal vs West Ham head-to-head record

Arsenal have lost just one of their last 12 meetings with the Hammers across all competitions. The Gunners boast the superior record overall as well with 69 wins to West Ham's 35, with 40 draws apiece in the last century-plus.

Since claiming three points on their first trip to the Emirates in April 2007, West Ham have won only one more game away to Arsenal. Across their last 15 visits to the north of the capital, West Ham have lost 12 times and drawn once otherwise.

Arsenal vs West Ham score prediction

Arsenal have endured an erratic Premier League campaign to date, swinging from unbridled optimism to existential doom often within the space of 90 minutes. No side in the division has won more points at home than the Gunners so far this term, but that is largely a quirk of the fixture list which only serves to highlight their true struggles; facing top quality teams.

Arteta's side have lost all four of their meetings with the Premier League's Champions League contingent (three of which came on the road), conceding 14 goals (64% of their season's tally) in the process. West Ham are aspiring to those continental heights and account for two of the five combined defeats the division's top three have suffered this term.

A growing injury list and deflating stalemate against Burnley have knocked the Hammers off their stride of late, but they may well have the edge over their inconsistent hosts.

Prediction: Arsenal 1-2 West Ham