Arsenal v West Brom review – Lacazette at the double!!

Well I suppose you could say that, in one way, Arsenal did what they needed to do in the first half. We started well and went in to the break with a goal scored and a clean sheet. That was far from being the whole story, though, as the Gunners rode some luck and the visitors will feel they should have taken at least one of their chances.

A possible penalty from them after a Mustafi sliding tackle was not given as Rodriguez shot and hit the post and Livermore fluffed the rebound. Arsenal dominated for a while after that and took the lead after 20 minutes with a poacher’s finish from Lacazette to pounce when an Alexis Sanchez free kick came back off the bar.

Monreal had a decent shout for a penalty after a great long run into the box and that was not our only good piece of play. Ramsey, Lacazette and Alexis were looking sharp and linking well, the full backs were getting forward and involved and the midfield pair of Xhaka and Elney were helping.

Too many sloppy passes, though, and some errors creeping in gave West Brom plenty of hope, while Sanchez looked set to argue himself a second yellow just before half-time, so there was a lot to do for Arsenal and we needed to improve.

Without really being at our best, the Gunners were better after the break, controlling the game and denying them the same space, while being more precise and penetrating with our forward passing. It took a penalty decision to give us clear daylight on the scoreboard though, Lacazette beating Foster after Nyom bundled Ramsey over.

The summer signing almost completed his hat-trick minutes later, Alexis finding him with a great long diagonal but his finish could not match the fabulous first touch. With 20 minutes left we looked well in control and when Giroud and Ozil came on 10 minutes later a third goal seemed inevitable as they looked sharp and full of ideas, but it was not to be.