Football Update: EPL News- Arsenal vs. West Bromwich Albion- disappointing finish for the Gunners (Part 1)
Arsenal slumped to a defeat against a buoyant West Bromwich Albion side at the Emirates on Saturday. Had Gunners earned all the three points available, they would have only been a point away from leaders, Chelsea. It was a great chance for Arsene Wenger's
team to put some pressure on Chelsea at the top of the table after their 100% record had been ended earlier in the day by Manchester City.
A win would have put Arsenal one point behind Chelsea with a trip to Stamford Bridge to come this weekend and anything less than that was unimaginable.
Gunners deserved to drop points against Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion, after insipid performances in both these games. These fixtures could have a major impact on their title challenge but they should remain optimistic about their English Premier League
title hopes. A four point gap is not a big deal, but a loss to Chelsea, will certainly dent their hopes.
‘The Professor’ left Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky out from the team on the weekend. Diaby and Eboue started for them at Emirates. The starting line-up certainly looked good enough on paper to beat a newly promoted West Bromwich Albion side.
Things might have gone differently if Gunners scored early on, but Andrei Arshavin only managed to stab the ball against the post from an Eboue cross and he then hit the post again when the ball rebounded back to him. Gradually Baggies’ confidence grew and
grew, though, as it was obvious that Arsene Wenger’s team were not playing their usual high tempo and quick passing game.
Without a doubt, Diaby and Eboue were not playing anywhere near the way that both Jack Wilshere and Rosicky would have been expected to play.
West Bromwich Albion looked the more likely to score, when their attacker was played through, he outpaced the Arsenal defence and Almunia advanced to meet him. Almunia completely missed the ball and took the man down inside the penalty box. It was a definite
penalty and Almunia only earned a yellow card.
Chris Brunt took the penalty and executed it poorly which enabled Almunia to make a good save. As half time approached, his name rang out around the Emirates and there seemed to be a chance that he could win his way back into the hearts of the Gunners.
At half time, the score was level and Arsenal could consider themselves very lucky to be still level. Even after the half time, Arsenal continued the same disappointing form in the second half.
The inevitable happened in the 50th minute when West Bromwich Albion took the lead through Odemwingie.
Thomas skinned Bacary Sagna in Arsenal’s right back position and squared the ball for him to tap home from less than six yards out. It was surely the time for Arsene Wenger’s player to wake up and play up to the standards which would have been expected from
them.
However, West Bromwich Albion scored another goal immediately after the first one. This time it was Jara who scored for the Baggies.
Jara was played in on left side of the box this time. As a centre back tried to close him down, he hit the ball low and hard at Almunia who got behind the ball but only managed to deflect it into the goal. Fans at Emirates were stunned by that error from
Almunia. It was a shot he should have saved and the heroics of his earlier penalty save were forgotten.
Arsene Wenger substituted both Diaby and Eboue within a few minutes. Both the midfielders were replaced by Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere. Eventually Arsenal looked more dangerous and started to perform a little better as West Bromwich Albion dropped back
to defend their lead.
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