Arsenal 2 - 0 West BromAlexis Sánchez scores twice as Arsenal ease past indifferent West Brom
Home team scorersAlexis Sanchez 6
Alexis Sanchez 38
It falls to an Arsenal member of staff to walk through the press box at half time with a sheet of A4 paper bearing the official attendance. He often does so with an apologetic sort of demeanour and it was more pronounced than usual here. The number read 59,568. So was the Emirates Stadium actually full?
The figure is based on tickets sold, remember, rather than the number of fans who pass through the turnstiles. The reality was that there were at least five or six thousand no-shows – maybe nearer to 10,000 – as Arsenal’s season petered out towards its likely third- or fourth-placed finish, which will bring with it Champions League qualification but not true satisfaction.
Arsenal moved up to third with this Alexis Sánchez-inspired win and it was a strange kind of non-event, given Arsenal’s superiority from the outset and West Bromwich Albion’s lack of body-on-the-line endeavour. This was not really a Tony Pulis performance but, then again, his club’s season is set on an even more certain course. Their Premier League safety has felt guaranteed for some time.
Sánchez has found form, albeit a little late in the day, after the hamstring injury that derailed him at the end of November and held him back for longer than expected. He scored his 15th and 16th goals of the club season, five of them coming in the last four games, and Arsenal could enjoy only a fifth league win in 14 matches.
The attendance was one sub-plot and there were degrees of apathy on show. Some regulars had decided that they would not turn up and proactively put their seats on a ticket exchange for fellow members. Others could not be bothered to do that, and they simply did not show.
“My message to our fans is to come and support your team,” Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said. “If you love football, you go out there. I think you see quality football. It’s what we try to give to our people.”
Another line was the return to the middle of the referee, Jon Moss, after his controversial performance in last Sunday’s 2-2 draw between Leicester City and West Ham United, when he sent off the Leicester striker, Jamie Vardy, for diving and awarded two debatable penalties.
There were flashpoints in the second-half when Alex Iwobi and Mohamed Elneny went down inside the area, the latter a little theatrically, but Moss gave neither penalties nor yellow cards – which would have been noted by Vardy. Moss also pressed on with his campaign against grappling, whether inside or outside of the box. He booked Gareth McAuley for a tussle with Olivier Giroud close to halfway.
Sánchez was in the mood at the outset and the breakthrough was marked by his sharpness of mind and body. Sandro was badly caught out. In the time that it took Sánchez to collect Aaron Ramsey’s pass, spin 180 degrees and tee up a right-footed shot from the edge of the area, Sandro was barely able to complete his own half turn. Sánchez’s effort flashed low into the bottom corner.
Arsenal called the tune, with Iwobi also to the fore, but West Brom did go close to an equaliser when McAuley rose unmarked to thump Darren Fletcher’s 29th minute corner against the crossbar, while there had been a curious moment just beforehand. Sánchez miscontrolled a high ball inside the area and he sent it into his hand, which was raised. Moss, correctly, ruled that it was accidental and there was no penalty. After Saido Berahino’s two misses from the spot in the home loss against Watford on Saturday, perhaps it was just as well.
Sánchez’s second came after Claudio Yacob tripped Ramsey on the edge of the area and West Brom’s defensive wall failed to do its job. Per Mertesacker and Giroud stood on the end of it and, when they parted ways, Sánchez blasted through the gap. Ben Foster was rooted.
Pulis brought on the striker Salomón Rondón at half-time and asked Berahino to play off him, but his team was off the pace. The West Brom manager said it was the first time he had managed in England on a Thursday night and he suggested that the unusual scheduling, which had been dictated by broadcasters, had scrambled his preparations.
Mesut Özil had a fistful of chances but it was not his night. He saw one in the 34th minute squirm through Foster’s legs only to be hacked off the line by Craig Dawson while his best opportunity on 68 minutes, which was laid on by Sánchez, led to a smart block from the goalkeeper. Joel Campbell, the Arsenal substitute, and Giroud went close before the end. It was not a game that will lodge in the memory.
“You look at the table and you know that every point is important for us at the moment,” Wenger said. “We are under permanent pressure for everything again so it was important to have an early lead and focus on the way we wanted to play football.”
Guardian