West Brom v Arsenal Preview, Line-up and Score Prediction

Arsenal travel to the Hawthorns today in the hope of heaping more misery on WBA fans who haven’t seen their team win a game since back in August when they won their first two Premier League games of the season. Arsenal on the other hand have only lost one of their last six and that was away at Man City. The Gunners recent away form has improved after last weeks win at Crystal Palace so let’s look at that first….

This is probably their best away run of the season so far, it’s not brilliant but at least we have won a few games away for a change. West Brom, on the other hand, can’t remember what a win feels like. Here is their recent home form…

Three draws, but you can see the defeats came against very good teams, and the perception is that they are playing better under Alan Pardew but just need to start scoring more goals. As Pardew said… “Palace scoring two goals and getting some chances was a filip for us. We take that into the game.

“Hopefully we can get a couple of goals which is what we’re going to need – at least – if we’re going to win.

“Their front three is world class, you could take that to the World Cup and any national team would be happy.

“That’s what we’re up against. More importantly for us we’ve got to score at the other end.” Hopefully they don’t start today!

It won’t be easy for them without their top scorer Salmon Rondon or Nacer Chadli, but Robson-Kanu and Rodriguez can also score occasionally so it is not a forlorn hope for Pardew. Of course, Arsenal are also without supersub Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Nacho Monreal and will want to conserve energy before facing Chelsea on the 3rd Jan….

So here is my rotated team prediction, but without too much confidence…

Cech
Bellerin Holding Chambers Maitland-Niles
Iwobi Wilshere Coquelin
Ozil Lacazette Sanchez

I would love Alexis to be replaced by Welbeck but we know that simply isn’t going to happen, and maybe rest Bellerin for Chelsea and give Debuchy a chance. Arsenal have a record of having scored in all 23 Premier League games against West Brom, but it hasn’t helped at the Hawthorns for the last two seasons as we lost both times. Let’s not make it three in a row, eh?

This match will give Wenger a record 811 Premier League games under his belt, and let’s hope we make it a happy one by beating the Baggies by 3-1…

What do you think?

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