Arsenal’s night of glory at snowy Hawthorns

Arsenal’s night of glory at snowy Hawthorns as they thrash West Brom 4-0 in the Premier League

 

Kieran Tierney wheels away in celebration after firing Arsenal in front against West Brom. (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

There’s a sudden feeling of sky-high confidence and the belief at the Emirates, it now feels distant to remember that this Arsenal team went seven without a win with the win over West Brom leading the team just three points behind Chelsea and Manchester City at the time of filing this report.

 

Arsenal went to the Hawthorns on Saturday to negotiate Sam Allardyce’s Westbrom in the final premier league game of the day, not long after Brighton and Wolves played out an entertaining 3-3 draw, the game almost didn’t happen after harsh snow took over the pitch but the game went on regardless.

Sam Allardyce rang a few changes to the team that was battered by Leeds after Christmas and Mikel Arteta rested Mohammed Elneny and Gabriel Martinelli, in their stead he opted for Dani Ceballos and Alexander Lacazette, it didn’t take long before Arsenal proved their worth on the night.

Hector Bellerin saw his shot saved by Sam Johnstone early on and Bernd Leno saved briskly after Perreira played Matt Phillips through on goal.

Just past the 20 minutes mark, Kieran Tierney took laws into his own hands, he danced through Furlong and drove in a fierce strike with his right to put Arsenal ahead.

It was all Arsenal from there on, sleek moves from the impressive Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe left the Baggies defense gapping severally and the duo combined to double Arsenal’s lead not long after.

An exquisite move involving Alex Lacazette saw Rowe setting up Saka for a simple tap in.

West Brom couldn’t stand toe to toe with Arsenal, it could have been more before the break but Sam Johnstone kept his side in the game with firm saves.

The second half saw West Brom fighting for their hapless lives, they actually had the ball past Leno but the whistle had gone, and rightly so for offside but Arsenal heaped more misery;

Saka was at it again in the second half to help Arsenal find their third goal on 60 minutes. After blowing past his marker, he crossed into the area and following a bizarre sequence of rebounds the ball fell to Lacazette to side-foot home.

Lacazette made it four not long after, Aubameyang played in the highly effective Kieran Tierney on the left and his pinpoint cross found Lacazette unmarked and he made no mistake from four yards out.

An obviously delighted Arteta waxed lyrical of his lads at full time, “The perfect way to start the New Year, we've won three in a row so we want to keep building. We're really happy with the performance," Saka said.

"It was so cold but I was getting so many touches in good positions, so I enjoyed the game a lot."

Sam Allardyce hinted after the game that he can’t wait to get into the transfer market, “we’re not good enough, we have to decide what we want”