Arsenal v West Ham: Rice and Bowen can shine in Emirates encounter

• Victory for Gunners will take them top of the table

• Jarrod Bowen has scored in seven of nine away games

• Former Hammer Declan Rice can get his shots away

Arsenal v West Ham
Thursday, 20:15
Live on Amazon Prime Video

Gunners a very short price to regain top spot

Arsenal enjoyed Christmas at the top of the Premier League table, but they'll go into Thursday night's game at home to West Ham sitting second after Liverpool went top with a 2-0 win over Burnley on Tuesday.

Mikel Arteta's men can regain top spot with a win over the Hammers, and they're - somewhat surprisingly - long odds-on to do so.

The Gunners are as short as 1/41.25 in the Match Odds 90 market (3/101.30 in the conventional Match Odds) which is perhaps showing a little bit of disrespect to West Ham who will arrive at the Emirates in decent form and sitting seventh in the table.

David Moyes' men have won three of their last four in the league, which includes victories over top six teams Tottenham and Manchester United. However, the Hammers have conceded an alarming 10 goals in their last two away games in defeats at Fulham (5-0) in the league and Liverpool (5-1) in the EFL Cup.

Arsenal haven't been overly impressive of late, winning just one of their previous four in all competitions, but they showed that they are very much up for a title challenge when going toe-to-toe with Liverpool at Anfield just before Christmas.

I do think that the Gunners will take all three points, but I'm in no rush whatsoever to back them at such a short price to do so given they're struggling to keep clean sheets (just one in their last six) and their tendency to allow teams a path back into games this season.

Brilliant Bowen loves an away day

Jarrod Bowen has undoubtedly been West Ham's star man this term, and quite possibly one of the players of the season.

The England international has scored 11 league goals to date, which is only three less than the Premier League's leading goalscorer Erling Haaland and one less than Liverpool's Mo Salah.

Remarkably however, Bowen has scored in seven of West Ham's nine league away games this campaign and he also scored the Hammers' only goal in last week's EFL Cup defeat at Anfield.

And it's worth remembering that West Ham beat a relatively strong Arsenal XI in the EFL Cup in early November with Bowen once again getting on the scoresheet.

The 27-year-old is 9/25.50 to score anytime at the Emirates, and that's a price that makes plenty of appeal given that once again he's very likely to play more further forward than any of his teammates.

Former Hammer Rice will be shooting for glory

Thursday's game against West Ham will be one that former Hammers' favourite Declan Rice has had pencilled in the diary since the fixtures were announced.

He'd probably love nothing more than to play a starring role against his former side, and I fancy he'll be desperate to get on the scoresheet.

From his defensive midfield role, three goals to Rice's name already this season isn't to be sniffed at, but what is noticeable is how many times he brings the ball forward and gets a shot or two away. He's registered 24 shots so far this term, which is an average of 1.33 per game, though that average rises to around two per game at the Emirates.

Rice can be backed at 10/111.91 to register two or more shots on Thursday night and I think that's a selection worth including in a Bet Builder along with a home victory and both teams getting on the scoresheet.

The Gunners have won seven and drawn two of their nine home league games this season, scoring in every one of those matches but also conceding in six of them.

When you consider that the likes of Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Burnley and Wolves have all visited the Emirates and found the back of the net then it's not too difficult to envisage West Ham - and hopefully Bowen - getting on the scoresheet also.