West Brom 0-4 Arsenal: 4 Things We Learned From Demolition

Arsenal cruised to a 4-0 Premier League victory over West Brom on Saturday.

In the context of the season Arsenal are having, it doesn’t get much better than the win at the Hawthorns.

Previously, supporters have taken solace from individual moments, brief spells of pressure or the Gunners’ ability to dig in and hold on in matches. What we were witness to against the Baggies was the most complete display of the campaign. By some margin.

West Brom saw most of the ball in the early exchanges but Arsenal’s intensity from back to front soon saw the initiative wrestled back from the hosts, and Kieran Tierney‘s stunning strike was just rewards for a strong opening.

As superb as the Scot’s effort was, Arsenal’s second was utterly sublime. Gorgeous one-touch football culminated in Bukayo Saka tapping home into an empty net, a goal that will already have found its way onto the Goal of the Season charts.

Alexandre Lacazette consolidated the win with two of his own inside a four-minute spell, as the visitors glided through the remainder of the match in the snow-laden Midlands turf. Not just a win, but a fine one too.

Here’s what we learned.

Control Unlike Any Other

One of the main takeaways from the Brighton win – one to quell the overriding exaltation – was that Arsenal were still unable to dominate matches from start to finish. There was a 20-minute spell after half-time where ruthless speed put the Seagulls’ to bed. It was Arsenal at their best. Yet for all their speed and incision on the south coast, that pressure would never last.

Against the Baggies, Arsenal had that control and never relinquished it but for a few, very brief, sections of the game. Only the truly elite footballing sides can dominate a game for 90 minutes untouched. Arteta’s side gave their best attempt at replicating it.

For the first time under Arteta, the football was at its free-flowing best and sustained. The Gunners’ have controlled matches, so too played with fluidity, during the Spaniard’s reign, although never have the two held hands are firmly or for as long as they had on Saturday.

During the barren seven-game winless run, the most prominent criticisms centred around signs of regression within the team. It’s only three matches later with an elevated mood that we’re seeing indications of progression.

Interchangeability off the ball, freedom of movement, intensity in and out of possession and dictation for extended spells have all been notable developments in just 270 minutes. Arteta has spoke of his side ‘dominating’ even at their poorest. For the first time, that domination was meaningful.

Arsenal Not Reliant on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is in the midst of his toughest campaign to date – OK, he might have suffered a few dry patches when he was 13 years younger and popping around France on loan.

Since striking gold, however, he finds himself in an unusual position. Scoring goals is his bread and butter. He won’t be enjoying this one bit.

Which is a good thing. Nobody wants a striker who’s happy with just winning over scoring. The team comes first, of course, but when you’re a forward whose job role is to stick the ball in the back of the net, you’d rather be picking up three points with your name on the scoresheet.

Last season the only one who could provide that was Aubameyang. Arsenal’s goalscoring hat sat atop the captain’s head, as he dragged the side through fixtures with his lethal finishing. Heading into this season, as the goals dried up for Aubameyang – the reasons for that are aplenty – the same fate befell the team. If the 31-year-old wasn’t scoring, neither were Arsenal.

New impetus on offensive movements and fluidity across the forward line is seeing more than just Aubameyang, finally, getting in on the act. Whether Saka or a rejuvenated Lacazette, the weight of expectation has been lifted off last term’s top scorer.

That reliance on the Gabon man will have taken its toll at the start of the campaign, and with those shackles released, it’s a matter of time before the goals come back.

Still need central midfield to help out, mind you.

Free-Flowing Confidence

Confidence means everything in football. It does in all sports, but there appears to be an even greater emphasis on self-belief in this beloved game of kick the round thing in the net.

What we can deduce from Saturday is that Arsenal have rediscovered their own. There are a select few coaches in world football who can instill confidence into a team despite points and goals drying up. That level of man-management comes from experience. Players will trust those who’ve seen it all.

This group clearly have faith in their manager. However, try as he might, Arteta can back his players to the hills and give them all the tools they need to succeed, but nothing works better than winning games. So simple, yet so complicated at the same time.

Now that they’ve got that winning feeling, the famed handbrake has been taken off. Arsenal are playing with a freedom of expression that would’ve been impossible to exhibit but two weeks ago.

Even Saka, the best player at the club over the last 12 months, has never looked so majestic. When he receives the ball, he will beat his man. Nobody can touch him. Having played without fear before, he now doesn’t even know what the word means.

This is evident throughout the team. Long may it continue.

A Crazy Premier League Season

Who knows what can happen in this division. Little over a week ago Arsenal were staring down the barrel of relegation. As frightening as that prospect was, it was never realistically going to happen, was it?

The truth is nobody knows. This Premier League season is the most ridiculous is living memory. It’s raining goals left, right and centre, shock results have become so frequent that the word itself is losing its meaning, and those deemed deep in crisis are suddenly in the title race.

As for Arsenal, they’ve clawed their way back to within obtainable distance of the top four. It’s truly remarkable. At this stage nothing can be ruled out. It really can’t.

Can Arteta lead the Gunners to the Champions League places? Mathematically he certainly can, especially in a league that is coughing up enough shock results to fill a decade.

Realistically, nobody can get too ahead of themselves after nine points on the spin. I for one do not see Arsenal getting top four, simply because there are at least four teams better than the Gunners. And even with Gabriel and Thomas Partey‘s returns, the squad overhaul is so vast that it needs resolving before any such ideas can be entertained.

Is it nice to be back within the conversation, though? You’re damn right it is.