And that’s me. Thanks for your company folks. Here’s Nick Ames’s match report:
Here’s Big Sam: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m bitterly disappointed we’re not still in the fight.”
On next season: “It’s too early to even consider. It’s about getting over the disappointment.”
He won’t be drawn on whether he’ll stay.
11 - Only Birmingham City (12) have suffered more top-flight relegations than West Brom (11), whilst their manager Sam Allardyce has been relegated from the Premier League for the very first time, having managed in 17 different seasons in the competition. Curtains. pic.twitter.com/wVfY2WZMQT
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 9, 2021
Sweet Caroline rings out in an empty Emirates as West Brom’s distraught players head off the pitch.
Full-time: Arsenal 3-1 West Brom. Albion are relegated
And that’s that. West Brom are down. Arsenal are … still Arsenal.
90+3 min: It’ll be interesting to see if Allardyce sticks around for next season at the Hawthorns. You’d have to think they have every chance of bouncing straight back up. Fun fact: despite all the ups and downs from the Premier League, West Brom have not finished lower than sixth in the second tier since 1999-2000.
Angry seated muttering Big Sam is incredible television
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) May 9, 2021
90+1 min: There’ll be five minutes of added time at the Emirates.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 West Brom (Willian 90)
And the free-kick is curled beautifully into the top corner by Willian. A terrific strike and that’s that for the Baggies.
Updated
88 min: Arsenal have done quite a decent job of denying West Brom the space and the angles to send those long balls into the box. Time running out for the visitors, and now they’ve given away a free-kick on the edge of their own box.
86 min: West Brom are seeing plenty of the ball but have been far too sloppy with it. Gallagher pokes a poor pass out of play this this time around.
83 min: Chambers crashes a shot miles over the bar after Tierney’s cross breaks to the edge of the area.
81 min: Into the last 10 minutes then.
79 min: “You would think that Arsenal had run out of ways to embarrass, depress and outrage their fans,” writes Charles Antaki. “But no. Losing control of a game against a soon-to-be-relegated side – there’s always a new way.”
Arsenal struggling under the extreme pressure of being 2-1 up against West Brom in an empty stadium
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) May 9, 2021
77 min: Gallagher goes into the book for preventing an Arsenal break. Partey replaces Ceballos.
76 min: Leno punches away another dangerous Phillips cross. West Brom aren’t out of this.
74 min: Phillips zips in a cross, Furlong climbs highest … but nods wide! What a chance that was.
72 min: Townsend does well to snuff out the threat of Pepe as Arsenal threaten down the right.
70 min: Ceballos chops down Gallagher to pick up a booking.
68 min: You do get the sense that Pereira will be playing Premier League football next year, even if West Brom aren’t. Though the same could have been said about a few Norwich players last season and instead they stuck around to help the Canaries back up. Diangana replaces Robinson for the visitors, who all of a sudden have a lifeline.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 West Brom (Pereira 67)
What a goal this is. Pereira picks the ball up centrally in his own half and surges away. Defenders are backpeddling, the midfielders can’t get back and Pereira is able to ping a shot in off the post from the edge of the box. Superb stuff.
Updated
64 min: Saka again zips the ball across the six-yard box and Lacaezette can’t quite get a toe on it. He was offside anyway as it turns out.
63 min: Tierney replaces Smith Rowe for Arsenal.
62 min: Robson-Kanu’s first contribution is t swing his arm into Elneny’s face while challenging for a header. He goes into the book.
Updated
61 min: Lacazette replaces Martinelli, who hasn’t made a huge impression during his hour on the pitch.
60 min: Gallagher’s second attempt is grabbed by Leno and suddenly Arsenal are away on the break. Saka skims a lovely ball across the six-yard box but no one can get a touch.
59 min: … swung in again and Leno has to palm away from under his own crossbar. It’s another corner …
58 min: … played back to Phillips, his shot deflects over for another corner …
57 min: Phillips wins a corner for West Brom … Pereira swings it in, Holding nods over for another …
55 min: Albion haven’t got anything going in the second half so far, and Allardyce has seen enough. Robson-Kanu comes on in place of Diagne.
53 min: Another poor West Brom clearance gets Arsenal on the front foot again but Martinelli’s little flick doesn’t come off.
51 min: West Brom look to mount an attack but you can sense the belief that was present in the opening 20 minutes has drained away.
49 min: … after a scramble in the box it drops to Smith Rowe, whose effort from distance is straight at Johnstone.
48 min: Pepe tests Johnstone again after a loose defensive header puts the Arsenal winger in. Corner …
47 min: Furlong sends in a looping long throw but Arsenal deal with it well, as they have all evening to be fair.
Peep! Off we go again then.
Some half-time reading: here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report from Kingsmeadow, where Chelsea secured the WSL title with a thumping win.
Half-time: Arsenal 2-0 West Brom
Peep! PEEEP! A very satisfactory half for Arsenal in the end. And credit to Mikel Arteta, who spotted a vulnerability on the right side of the West Brom midfield and tweaked things to allow Saka to exploit it. West Brom have it all to do.
43 min: Saka again gets into the West Brom box … and with few options square just thunks an effort in at the near post. Johnstone saves with his feet.
41 min: Another short one, again nicely worked, ends with Chambers thumping over from the edge of the box. Arsenal look transformed from the early stages of this match.
40 min: Taken short and another lovely, fluid attack from Arsenal puts Saka in behind again and Ajayi heads away for another corner.
39 min: West Brom need to score twice, then, to avoid relegation being confirmed today. They’re wobbling at the moment though, as Willian gets in behind again and forces a corner.
36 min: Johnstone got fingertips to that Pepe effort but there was far too much sauce on the shot. I think I’m right in saying that there have only been more four expensive signings in the history of British football (Pogba, Maguire, Van Dijk and Lukaku) – those sort of goals make that fact feel not quite so crazy.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 West Brom (Pépé 34)
That’s a stunning strike. Pépé cuts inside from the right, as is his wont, and across the corner of the area. From there he sends a thunderous effort across Johnstone and into the top corner.
Updated
32 min: Elneny and Ceballos have grabbed control of midfield and Albion are struggling to break their grip.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 West Brom (Smith Rowe 29)
The Gunners had just been gradually turning up the heat over the last few minutes and they have the breakthrough. Predictably it comes through Saka, who has been the best Arsenal player on the pitch by some distance. Again he wriggles clear on the left, a little punched cross finds Smith Rowe at knee-height and the youngster volleys home emphatically.
Updated
28 min: A scuffed corner bobbles across the West Brom box and somehow evades the Arsenal attackers.
26 min: … Willian floats it in to the back post, Holding volleys across but it hits a defender and its out for a corner.
25 min: Pass, pass, pass from Arsenal. It’s not entirely clear what the plan is … but Cebellos tempts Phillips into a daft challenge and Arsenal have a dangerous free-kick, 30-ish yards out …
Updated
23 min: Albion throw-in on the right and it’s Furlong’s turn to send the ball into the box. Again Arsenal deal with it comfortably.
22 min: Elneny looks to bend in an effort from distance but it’s straight at Johnstone.
21 min: The worry for West Brom will be that they’ve been the better side for 20 minutes but have exactly nothing to show for it.
19 min: Three dangerous crosses in quick succession from West Brom but they meet either fresh air or the heads of defenders. Diagne was a whisker away from getting on the end of one of them.
18 min: Saka again gets away down the left and Furlong just gets back to make a superb tackle. For a second that looked like it was going to be a nailed-on penalty but the young Albion right-back did brilliantly.
Updated
17 min: Superb from Saka on the left, skipping past Robinson and to the byline. His cross, though, cannot find a red shirt.
16 min: Ajayi’s clearance finds Pereira wide on the left and he surges forward on the break before blasting a couple of yards wide from distance.
14 min: West Brom hit the bar! Robinson controls a cross from the left and pokes past Leno, onto the woodwork. The flag then goes up and replays show he was clearly offside but still – Arsenal have just not got going yet.
12 min: Robinson turns in the area and sees his shot blocked by Holding. Then Pereira picks up the loose ball, slips inside and pings a screamer inches wide of the top corner from 25 yards. West Brom certainly the livelier team thus far.
10 min: Ajayi thunks the ball foreard and out for a throw in by the Arsenal corner flag. It looks like a terrible ball but it’s really not too bad in this territory-based plan of Big Sam. Indeed West Brom quickly win the ball back in the Arsenal half and look to build again.
8 min: Townsend goes long and aimless; Gabriel tidies up. There’s no mystery in the way West Brom are going to play.
6 min: The blue-booted Ceballos slips a lovely ball into the left channel for Saka. His cross pings around in the area and pops up to Pepe, who skews well over from 10 yards. Only a half-chance at best, but that was decent from the home side.
5 min: Elneny is loose in midfield and a spell of Arsenal possession ends with West Brom on the attack. Townsend hoiks the ball in from left back and Leno claims comfortably.
3 min: Gallagher whips it in and again Holding climbs highest.
2 min: West Brom get a throw-on on the left and Townsend hurls hit into the box. Holding gets up and nods away for a corner.
Peep! Off we go then. Arsenal get us under way.
Click-clack, click-clack … out come the teams, Arsenal in red, Baggies in their green and yellow away kit.
There have been further protests against the Arsenal ownership outside the ground this evening. Lovely day for it to be fair.
Here’s the mountain facing West Brom:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Southampton | 34 | -20 | 37 |
| 17 | Burnley | 34 | -16 | 36 |
| 18 | Fulham | 34 | -20 | 27 |
| 19 | West Brom | 34 | -34 | 26 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 35 | -44 | 17 |
Defeat tonight sees them relegated.
A bit of pre-match reading for you: here’s Jonathan Wilson on football’s billionaire owners.
The lineups
Arsenal (4-2-3-1 probable)
Leno; Chambers, Holding, Gabriel, Saka; Ceballos, Elneny; Pepe, Willian, Smith Rowe; Martinelli. Subs: Runarsson, Bellerin, Tierney, Cedric, Partey, Odegaard, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Nketiah.
West Brom (4-3-3 probable)
Johnstone; Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend; Phillips, Yokuslu, Gallagher; Pereira, Diagne, Robinson. Subs: Button, Peltier, Taylor, O’Shea, Gardner-Hickman, Livermore, Diangana, Grant, Robson-Kanu.
So Martinelli will spearhead the Arsenal attack. Looks like West Brom will revert to a back four.
Updated
Preamble
Hello all. And welcome to a proper, good old Sunday night misery fest. Arsenal, who are, shall we say, not having a nice time of it, welcome West Brom, who could be relegated, to the Emirates at a kick-off time no one could possibly enjoy.
Albion need a point to stave off relegation for a few days at least and they’ve got a fighting chance. Over the past 10 games they picked up only two fewer points than Arsenal (13 to the Gunners’ 15) and Sam Allardyce has finally managed to instill some stubborness in the squad – just three defeats in the last 11 games isn’t bad going.
Arsenal … well, Arsenal. Nick Ames’s piece on Friday seemed to cut right through to the point – Arsenal are coming up short in all aspects at the moment, on and off the pitch.
Kick off is at 7pm BST.
