On Thursday, December 28th, West Ham United plays Arsenal in the Premier League. We have some positive news to share before the match.
Next week, Arsenal will meet West Ham in the Premier League, and it will be a crucial match for both teams.
Both Mikel Arteta, the head of the Gunners, and David Moyes, the manager of the Hammers, will be anxious for their teams to win three points on Thursday night.
Vladimir Coufal was one booking away from missing West Ham’s match against Arsenal, which gave West Ham significant cause for anxiety before yesterday’s encounter against Manchester United. Fortunately, Coufal did not receive a yellow card. Although Arsenal is leading the league and will undoubtedly be difficult to beat, the Hammers go into the game with a lot of confidence.
Nevertheless, it appears that we could be favored with a lucky charm for the Premier League match in north London.
Huge boost for West Ham ahead of Arsenal match
Craig Pawson will be covering VAR for us against the Gunners, the Premier League’s official website has stated.
Now, West Ham and Pawson have a rather positive past together. Over the past few years, the 44-year-old has made multiple judgments that have gone in our favor.
He officiated our 2021 match at the London Stadium vs Liverpool, which we won 3-2. Jurgen Klopp lost his mind when Pawson neglected to even book Aaron Cresswell for a tackle on Jordan Henderson during that game, which many believed should have resulted in a red card (Daily Mail).
Then, in February of this year, he declined to give Chelsea a penalty after Tomas Soucek used his hand to block the ball from entering our net. Although it seemed like a strange choice at the time, it ended up being quite beneficial to us. We eventually found that it was a turning point in our journey to Premier League safety.
Although it’s not as enjoyable to read about than it is from the West Ham fans’ perspective, he also has some history with Arsenal. When the Gunners lost 2-1 to Wolves in 2021, Pawson was the one who sent out David Luiz and Bernd Leno.
Following the game, Hector Bellerin shared an Instagram photo showing Pawson giving the then-Wolves captain Conor Coady a fist bump at full time. Whatever you want to make of it.
Craig Pawson’s record with West Ham
Over the years, Pawson has overseen games for the Hammers; they have won seven, drawn eight, and lost six (Transfermarkt). If you ask me, it’s quite excellent that we have lost less than 30% of our games since the 44-year-old took over. We’re hoping that winning streak continues against Arsenal on Thursday. If West Ham can pull off a victory at the Emirates, it will be the icing on the cake for an incredible first half of the season.
I’m simply hoping that we’ll get some assistance against the Gunners with Pawson on VAR duty.
