On the occasion of the seventeenth day of the Premier League, Arsenal moved to the lawn of West Bromwich Albion this Saturday. In case of victory, the Gunners could finally launch a series in the league after their successes against Chelsea and Brighton in the last two days. Faced with them, the Baggies had not won for 5 days and remained mainly on a heavy 5-0 defeat against Leeds last Tuesday. To lead his team to victory, Mikel Arteta had decided to trust Lacazette and especially Aubameyang, who has scored only three small goals this season. For his part, Sam Allardyce was counting on a compact team defensively led by the indestructible Branislav Ivanovic.
It was under heavy snowfall in Birmingham that the Arsenal players started hostilities in this match. And the first differences were made on the right lane. It was first Bellerin who did not go far from beating a vigilant Johnstone with a beautiful strike (2nd) before Saka also tried it a few minutes later (9th). The 19-year-old, very leggy, also did not go far to offer a goal to Aubameyang, but his fleeing center could not find the Gabonese. After suffering for more than twenty minutes, West Bromwich Albion logically conceded the opening goal after a magnificent sequence from Tierney. The Scottish left side played Furlong with a large bridge before placing a clear strike from the right into the window of a Samuel Johnstone so far flawless (0-1, 23rd). Confidently, the Gunners drove home the point after a nice movement initiated by Ceballos and concluded by Bukayo Saka (0-2, 28th).
Lacazette seized his chance perfectly
On returning from the locker room and on a snowy lawn, which did not help the practice of football, Arsenal did not stop attacking. Alexandre Lacazette, very active since the start of the match, obtained two chances in quick succession (54th, 56th) before finally finding the fault after a very good job from Bukayo Saka, again him, and especially after a bad dismissal from the defense of the Baggies (0-3, 60th). The French striker even offered himself a brace a few minutes later by taking a cross from Kieran Tierney (0-4, 65th) at the penalty spot.
The player trained in Lyon scored points, unlike his teammate Aubameyang who was unsuccessful on several occasions. He stumbled twice on a very good Johnstone (74th, 80th). The English goalkeeper may be Sam Allardyce’s only satisfaction. Without him, the score would have been even heavier for a West Bromwich side that never existed in this game. Despite some chances from newcomers Willian and Willock, the score will not budge. With their third success in a row, Arsenal move up to eleventh place in the Premier League table, just six points from Champions League qualifying places.
