West Ham clash ‘key’ for Arsenal, says Mikel Arteta ahead of milestone match

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta takes charge of his 300th Arsenal match on Saturday desperate to avoid a hat-trick of home defeats by West Ham.

The Gunners’ title hopes have been dealt a hammer blow by their London rivals in each of the last two seasons.

Arsenal could go top of the table, for a couple of hours at least, before current leaders Liverpool face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

So Arteta admits his milestone match against West Ham, now under new boss Nuno Espirito Santo, is a key one for his side’s title aspirations.

The Gunners go into the game on the back of their dramatic win at Newcastle and a Champions League success over Olympiacos, and Arteta said: “That’s what we want, to continue to play and flow and dominate games in the manner that we are doing.

“It’s going to be a key fixture. We learned in the last two seasons as well because we had two defeats against them here and it’s something that we need to put right and tomorrow is another opportunity to do that.

“We’re going to have to play against a new manager and we know Nuno really well, the way he sets up his team.

“It’s about generating momentum. There are periods in the season that are critical and tomorrow’s game is a really important one for us.

“That’s why from the beginning we need to generate that and go for it, because after we have a two-week break with the international week.”

Arteta brings up his triple century with a 58 per cent win rate, the highest of any Arsenal manager.

Yet the Spaniard still cannot match the trophy hauls of predecessors such as Arsene Wenger and George Graham.

“Even with that winning rate, we haven’t won major trophies,” he added. “So that tells you the level.

“That’s why you have to do what has been done before, but at this level (that) is not enough.

“It has to be done much more and it is much more difficult. That’s what we try to focus on doing. The target is to win on Saturday and things will come.”

Arsenal will check on Gabriel Magalhaes after the defender went off against Olympiacos in midweek with an injury not considered too serious.

Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz remain long-term absentees.