The callous chill confirmed the arrival of winter, while misery on the pitch left Arsenal fearing another season of discontent. This defeat dredged up those old concerns about the mental fortitude of Arsène Wenger’s men and also highlighted the damage wrought by their long casualty list.
Their problems on the latter front were aggravated by injuries to Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta. Wenger could have done without such blows before Tuesday’s match with Dinamo Zagreb, which Arsenal must win to avoid an unusually early exist from the Champions League.
The hope among many Arsenal fans since their team’s sloppy start in the Champions League has been that failure in Europe could help fuel success in the Premier League, but there was little to feed that optimism here, as they looked short of resources and resourcefulness. Which is not to diminish the valour of their hosts, who worked hard for their win even if they were thankful for a comical late penalty miss by Santi Cazorla.
Arsenal have grown used to suffering away to teams managed by Tony Pulis and their trip here proved to be as chastening as their visits to Pulis’s Stoke tended to be. Some Albion fans have grumbled about the no-frills football served up this season but a satisfying result and some fine displays by their attackers, especially from James McClean and Salomón Rondón, meant no home fans were complaining about their approach to this match.
Saido Berahino was left on the bench and Albion adopted their familiar posture from the start, immediately filing backwards and allowing Arsenal possession. The visitors’ challenge was to plot a path through the massed defence and to guard against quick counterattacks. For most of the first half they failed both tasks. There was an early indication of their vulnerability to counterattacks when McClean, starting as he would continue, darted between Alexis Sánchez and Héctor Bellerín in the seventh minute before curling a dangerous pass across the face of goal. No Albion player was near enough to goal to take the chance.
Pulis’s plan then looked to be undone by nothing more cunning than a well-flighted set-piece. Sánchez had gone close from a free-kick in the 15th minute – Boaz Myhill saving the Chilean’s 20-yard drive – and then, in the 28th, another free-kick led to Giroud nodding Arsenal into the lead. Albion defenders were conspicuous by their inertia as the striker met Mesut Özil’s delivery from 10 yards.
The onus now was on Albion to conjure something special. Or retort through a free-kick of their own, which is what they did seven minutes later. Chris Brunt curled in a free-kick every bit as sweet as Özil’s and Arsenal defended every bit as badly as Albion had, allowing Morrison to fire first time into the far corner.
The creation of Albion’s second goal was more artful, even if it started with Özil being pestered into surrendering possession near halfway. Rondón and McClean then combined neatly before the Irishman pinged a cross from the byline to the near post and Arteta inadvertently bundled it into his own goal.
Arteta had been introduced as an early substitute for Coquelin, who hurt his knee in a zealous tackle on Claudio Yacob. However, a more significant factor as Arsenal sought a way back into the game was the enforced absences of several fast and creative players, such as Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey. Arteta, meanwhile, lasted a little more than half an hour, being replaced by Mathieu Flamini early in the second half.
Even deprived of so many creative talents, Arsenal almost equalised just after the interval, Özil latching on to a breaking ball in the box before unleashing a shot that bounced back off the post.
Arsenal’s injury problems have precluded Wenger from resting Sánchez but the Chilean was making light of his heavy workload and a brilliant run in the 53rd minute created a chance for Kieran Gibbs. But Craig Dawson threw himself in front of the shot to make a superb block.
Albion did more than merely defend, with Rondón and McClean causing occasional panic in the Arsenal rearguard.
After two enforced changes, Wenger used his third substitution to cast on Joel Campbell just after the hour. The Costa Rican was soon presented with a great chance to mark his arrival but he bungled badly. A slip by Brunt allowed a pass by Santi Cazorla to land at the feet of the winger six yards from goal – but Campbell stuck out his foot with all the conviction of a shopper unsure about tripping a fleeing thief, and he wafted the ball away from goal.
Jonas Olsson, excellent defensively, almost scored a third for Albion but his header from a corner did not cross the line after hitting the underside of the crossbar.
Arsenal were then given another chance to salvage a point, the referee pointing rather generously to the spot after Sánchez tumbled under a challenge by Brunt. Cazorla slipped as he was about to connect with the penalty, sending the ball high over the bar and summing up Arsenal’s miserable afternoon.
