Arsenal begin their quest for a first Premier League title in 11 seasons when they take on London rivals West Ham at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

 

The Gunners finished last season in an impressive fashion, winning 13 and drawing 3  in order to finish 3rd in the table. Arsene Wenger’s side then rounded-off their campaign by retaining the FA Cup with a 4-0 thumping of Aston Villa in the final.

 

Both teams have been busy in the build-up to the opening of the Premier League season. Arsenal captured their second straight Community Shield with a 1-0 win over champions Chelsea, while West Ham have had their hands full with the Europa League.

Despite placing 12th last season, West Ham were awarded a place in the competition due to their spectacular disciplinary record. They’ve been playing competitive matches for a month already.

 

Arsenal won 5 from 5 in pre-season and scored a potentially significant psychological victory by beating Chelsea for the first time in 8 matches. In addition, the signing of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech appears to have bred a real air confidence into a back-four still effectively shielded by last season’s break-out player, Francis Coquelin.

 

While the Hammers have signed well during the summer – recruiting the Serie A duo, Peter Obiang from Sampdoria and Angelo Ogbonna from Juventus, as well as the highly-rated France playmaker, Dimitri Payet, from Marseilles – they needed penalties to beat Maltese minnows Birkirkara in their second-round European qualifier and lost a 2-0 lead in drawing 2-2 with Romanian side Astra Giurgiu last week.

 

Arsenal have won 10 straight meetings in the series. The Hammers have not won away at Arsenal since 2007 and the value in backing an away win is at 10/1 with Skybet.

 

West Ham will only arrive back from the return-leg in Romania on Friday afternoon ahead of Sunday’s league-opener and they are without the injured strike-duo of Andy Carroll and Enner Valencia.

 

Each of Arsenal’s last 7 consecutive victories against West Ham have been by over 2.5 goals while Olivier Giroud has netted in their last three homes wins against the Hammers.

 

Back a home win at over 2.5 goals at 4/5 and Giroud to score first at 3/1.