.As Guardiola admits anything can happen at Hull

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After back-to-back defeats in the league, Arsenal will look to get back to winning ways when they welcome West Bromwich Albion to the Emirates today.
Arsenal have a decent record against West Brom at home and will not expect another stumble on Boxing Day. The Gunners stay favourite to win the tie and start their ascent to the top. Tony Pulis, however, has often been successful in frustrating big teams and given Arsenal’s recent form, he could just about do that.
The Gunners got huge injury boosts as Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey have returned back to training. Although Welbeck isn’t likely to start a match before January as Wenger stated, Ramsey just might be involved in the game against West Brom.
Aaron Ramsey has been out since the start of the month with a hamstring complaint but has now returned to full training and could be named on the bench against the Baggies.
Long-term absentee Danny Welbeck has also returned to training but is still some weeks away as he recovers from the knee injury which has kept him on the sidelines since May.
Shkodran Mustafi has been ruled out until the start of January with a hamstring complaint, while a similar issue will keep right-back Mathieu Debuchy out of action for another few weeks.
Per Mertesacker, who has missed the entire season to date with a knee injury, could be back in time for the FA Cup third round in early January, but Santi Cazorla is still several months away from returning after ankle surgery.
For Tony Pulis’s visitors, Jonny Evans remains a doubt after missing the last two games with a calf injury, while James Morrison faces a late fitness test following a bout of flu in the run-up to Christmas.
West Brom have endured a bumpy start to the 2016/17 season but despite this remain in high spirits as they continue to stake their claim for one of the league’s UEFA Europa League qualification places this term. They’ve won six, drawn five and lost six too – yet find themselves in eighth place, which just shows how important consistent results can be with rivals around them dropping points with regularity.
In the other match for the day, Pep Guardiola acknowledges Manchester City have tightened up defensively in their last two games – but claims anything could still happen at Hull on Boxing Day.
City emerged from a bad spell by keeping a first clean sheet in nine attempts in a victory over Watford earlier this month and followed up by coming from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 last week.
The back line has appeared to be City’s weak link this season but Guardiola has stressed the way to improve it is not by focusing on fundamentals such as tackling, but improving the all-round play of the team.