Arsenal play host to West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Premier League clash with Arsenal is a vitally important one for Graham Potter and his West Ham team.
However, it’s a crucial one for the Gunners as well, as they try to hunt down Liverpool in the race for the title.
Arsenal are currently in the midst of a real injury crisis, with all of their best attacking players out injured, apart from the excellent Ethan Nwaneri of course.
It has to be said, the Hammers have injury concerns as well, but at least we have most of our best players available.
Whatever happens, it should be a good game of football.
Arsenal are obviously favourites to win the match, but I reckon we might just have a sneaky chance of ending their title chances.
Arsenal fans will be fuming with Premier League call for West Ham
The Hammers put in one of our best performances of the season away at Arsenal last term.
However, it ended up being the start of out downfall, with David Moyes losing his job at the end of the season.
Hopefully this time around we can get all three points, and then really kick on from there.
It seems like we might just have a great chance to do exactly that.
The Premier League have confirmed via their official website that Craig Pawson will referee the game at the Emirates this weekend.
That’s great news for West Ham, but very bad news for Arsenal in my opinion.
Pawson was in charge of Wolves vs Arsenal in 2021, and he sent off David Luiz and Bernd Leno during the game, which ended in a 2-1 win for the Black Country outfit.
Hector Bellerin posted an Instagram picture after the game, depicting Pawson fist-bumping the then Wolves skipper Conor Coady at full-time. Make of that what you will.
And then, back in December 2023, Pawson was the man who was on VAR duty during our 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates.
The ref awarded our first goal after the ball was perceived to have gone out before Jarrod Bowen pulled it back for Tomas Soucek to slot home.
Meanwhile, the Hammers have a decent history with Pawson refereeing our games.
Obviously he awarded a decision in our favour directly against Arsenal, as mentioned above.
But there have been plenty more good memories of Pawson for the Hammers fans.
Arsenal’s Pawson pain is West Ham’s pleasure
He was the referee for our clash with Liverpool at the London Stadium back in 2021 – a game that we won 3-2.
During that match, Pawson failed to even book Aaron Cresswell for what many thought was a red-card offence after his tackle on Jordan Henderson – a decision that sent Jurgen Klopp into meltdown (Daily Mail).
Then, in February 2023, he refused to award Chelsea a penalty after Tomas Soucek stopped the ball going into our net with his hand. It was a baffling decision at the time, but one that really worked in our favour. It ended up being a vital point for us on the road to Premier League safety.
Arsenal obviously need all three points against West Ham but it has to be said, we desperately require a positive result as well.
Hopefully Craig Pawson looks upon us favourably during our clash with the Gunners at the Emirates on Saturday.
