Arsenal vs West Brom: Goal Videos, Highlights And Analysis

Arsenal were inexplicably put to the sword against West Brom. Here are all the goals, highlights and analysis of this excrutiating effort.

Arsenal ran with a starting XI that should have made everyone rather excited. With no Mesut Ozil, the Gunners stuck with the 4-3-3 that has been working for them lately. Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxalde-Chamberlain all rotated through the three midfield positions and it gave them decent stability, as all three are capable of stretching play and winning the ball back.

It started when West Brom fired the first shot. Another implosion by the zonal marking scheme, Aaron Ramsey allowed Craig Dawson to slip on by and have himself a pretty open header. Have a look:

But the Gunners were quick to answer back. And who else but Alexis on a fine set up by Granit Xhaka:

It wouldn’t be long after that Alexis was cleaned out by James McLean in a tackle that probably would have seen Xhaka sent off, had he been the culprit. But the Chilean shook it off and went into the tunnels even, 1-1, down a goal keeper.

Normally, you’d see the Gunners turn it around in the dressing room at half and come out a bit more sprightly, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, it was nothing of the sort. Not even close. They looked worse than ever and a lot of it fell on David Ospina. If you don’t believe me, take a look:

Ospina was all over the place after coming into this game and did not make a strong case for himself at all. Naturally, it didn’t help that no one seemed to want to be out there.

And of course, it got worse:

The pain would stop there. Another crucial three points lost and you just have to wonder what the proper step forward is. Whatever we are working with here is an absolute failure. This isnot a Champions League side.

This is not even a Euro League side. This was a midtable side completely outdone by another midtable side.

The problem that was so plain to see was that no matter the score, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, every Arsenal played the exact same. There was no urgency, there was no innovating. It was the same thing over and over, like banging your head on a wall.

Danny Welbeck was nonexistent, Theo Walcott was nonexistent. Aaron Ramsey tried hard but didn’t impact the game. All these guys that we rely on to press the issue and change things, they were all on their heels, unable to impact a game.

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And you can’t claim exhaustion, the Gunners had a full week off. There is simply no excuse for this, though I’m sure there will be plenty of attempts to dig some up.