Can West Ham's defence hold off Arsenal to keep their season and the title race alive?

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Previously, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were porous defensively and struggled against opposition set pieces. But starting with that fixture at Turf Moor, West Ham have kept five clean sheets in 11 league matches and conceded 13 goals, although they did drop back into the relegation places following their 3-0 defeat at Brentford last Saturday and Tottenham’s 2-0 win away to Aston Villa a day later. Before that Burnley trip, West Ham had not kept a clean sheet in their 19 league outings under September appointment Nuno. It has been one of the biggest areas of improvement in the second half of this season. It is a sign of their burgeoning bond that Disasi, signed on loan from Chelsea five days before that game, and Mavropanos will routinely acknowledge each other with a fist-bump when they win a tackle, aerial duel or other defensive contributions during a game. The pair kept Erling Haaland quiet in the 1-1 home draw with Manchester City in March, having held Manchester United’s starting attacking quartet of Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha and Amad to zero shots on target the previous month in another 1-1 at the London Stadium (the United goal that day came in added time from substitute Benjamin Sesko). Last week’s scoreline at Brentford will be hugely concerning, but the job now is to prove that result was just a blip. They have the chance to make amends by keeping Viktor Gyokeres, Bukayo Saka and company at bay in Sunday’s home game against title favourites Arsenal. This match will see West Ham being supported by Manchester City fans desperately hoping their team can overhaul Arsenal at the top of the Premier League — as well as any neutrals who would rather see Spurs relegated. The pressure on the home defence in particular will be huge. “Disasi has been a calming influence for Mavropanos,” former West Ham and England centre-back turned pundit Matt Upson tells The Athletic. “You could watch a game and not notice him that much, but that’s a good thing, because he does not crave the limelight. That’s helped Mavropanos, because he was often chaotic in his thought process. Now he’s been paired with Disasi, he’s found another level of calm. “Mavropanos has always had good attributes, like his athleticism and being good in the air. He has added to that with his new-found confidence. He’s not making poor choices anymore, which has largely come with playing alongside Disasi. “Previously, the defence really struggled with crosses into the box. It was chaos all the time, which often led to a goal. But that is no longer the case, and credit to the manager for that. He’s also been a good person for Mavropanos with his calm influence. “As a defender, whenever panic creeps in, it is often due to lack of confidence and form. You can lose it and gain it quickly, which has happened to Mavropanos. The biggest compliment I can give Disasi and Mavropanos is that I don’t see Gyokeres having much joy against them (tomorrow). With his style of play, they’ll enjoy playing against him. Gyokeres was very good against Atletico Madrid (in their Champions League semi-final’s second leg in midweek), but this will be a tougher match-up physically for him.” An added plotline is that Mavropanos, who was nominated for April’s Premier League Player of the Month award, will be coming up against one of his former clubs. The now 41-time Greece international moved to north London from Greek side PAS Giannina as an 18-year-old in January 2018, but only made seven league appearances in a four-and-a-half-year spell at the Emirates, which included loans at German sides Nurnberg and Stuttgart, before a permanent move to the latter in summer 2022. In December 2023, having joined the club four months earlier, Mavropanos memorably scored for West Ham against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. He opted not to celebrate that goal, the second of a 2-0 away win, but may be more inclined to do so if he finds the net again on Sunday. This season, Mavropanos has three goals across 32 appearances. To put that into context, he only scored once in 68 games over his first two seasons as a West Ham player. Mavropanos played alongside Maximilian Kilman in the reverse fixture against Arsenal in October, when Gyokeres was limited to one shot on target while playing the full 90 minutes, although West Ham still lost 2-0. He and Disasi will hope to restrict the Swede to another quiet afternoon on Sunday. “Mavropanos didn’t have a lot of opportunities at Arsenal, so he will have a point to prove,” says Upson. “He scored against them a few years ago, so there could be another nice element to his story if he does it again this weekend, especially if West Ham win. “If the club stay up, the contribution that partnership has made will be spoken about for a long time. (Jean-Clair) Todibo got sent off against Chelsea (at the end of January) and that helped Disasi get an extended run in the team. Now Nuno has his preferred central defensive pairing. There is a lot to like about this team. It’s just a shame that it’s all jelled so late in the season.” Mavropanos has grown in confidence since harshly being labelled ‘Mavropanic’. One memorable moment was a viral face-block of a Haaland shot, which further highlighted him as a player of the year contender at West Ham. Nuno, who received a nomination for April’s Manager of the Month award, previously tried various combinations of Todibo, Kilman and Mavropanos, but they seldom yielded solidarity. But it won’t just be Mavropanos and Disasi who have their hands full tomorrow. Another interesting storyline will be how El Hadji Malick Diouf copes with Saka’s attacking threat down the Arsenal right. He marked the England winger in that October fixture and gave away a penalty when clumsily barging into Jurrien Timber. Saka scored the resultant spot kick to make it 2-0, and Diouf will hope to avoid a repeat. The Senegal international also conceded a penalty at Brentford last Saturday and discussed the latter incident with Nuno post-match. The 21-year-old left-back, who joined last summer from Czech side Slavia Prague, has had a solid debut season in the Premier League. Given his potential, he is likely to have many suitors this summer, irrespective of which division West Ham will be in when the games begin again in August. But despite pace and crossing being some of Diouf’s strengths, lapses in concentration remain a weakness. “Diouf has great potential but is still raw, and the loss to Brentford was the biggest indicator of that,” adds Upson. “He killed West Ham’s momentum when he conceded a penalty shortly after half-time. It was a rash decision to go to ground like that. There was no need for him to foul (Dango) Ouattara. “At half-time, I said to someone that West Ham will get back in this game, because it was only 1-0 to Brentford. They had chances as well, so if it was 1-0 for another 15 or 20 minutes, then West Ham would’ve scored an equaliser. But Diouf’s foul turned the game in Brentford’s favour. “I like him, but he needs to improve his decision-making. Before last week, it was 60 per cent Tottenham, 40 per cent West Ham in terms of relegation, now it’s swung the other way. But even if West Ham lose to Arsenal, I don’t think that’s them done. There will still be more twists until the very end.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms