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Sam Allardyce will bid to copy the Chelsea ­blueprint for stopping Arsenal at Upton Park today.

But the West Ham boss reckons the Gunners are mounting a title challenge because they have now toughened up at the back.

The Hammers have beaten Arsenal only once at home this century – and lost the last six meetings home and away, conceding eight goals against them last season.

Big Sam was at the ­Emirates on Monday to see Jose Mourinho’s side stifle Mesut Ozil and co. And he reckons his relegation-threatened team can trouble the Gunners the same way.

“It was a very good plan for facing Arsenal,” he said. “A very fluent and exciting passing team really got ­nullified by Chelsea’s good tactics. And a team that bought into the tactics and worked extremely hard.

“I am talking about the ones you perhaps don’t expect, like Willian and Eden Hazard. They all played their part to try to achieve a result as a team. They had their opportunities to create and produce the flair but didn’t quite do it on the day.

“Mourinho set Arsenal a trap and they didn’t cope well with it. I would hope we can start quick and press Arsenal and get any mistakes out of them.”

Allardyce admitted his side “got a bit scared of Manchester United” in the defeat at Old Trafford and wants them to play without fear against Arsenal.

But the former Bolton and Blackburn boss reckoned Arsene Wenger’s team can no longer be bullied physically since the return of Mathieu Flamini.

“They have become a bit more resilient in their tackling and are not conceding goals from set pieces or corners that they used to be frail on.

“They have already scored six headers from set-pieces and they have improved in those two areas which has taken them towards the top of the Premier League.

“Perhaps Flamini has been the big difference and he has gone around geeing up all the players which they have maybe lacked before. He not only leads by example but he gets all the other players going as well.

“You need to be good both in and out of possession – otherwise you will not win the league.”