Right then, with Sam Allardyce stubbornly refusing to talk to TV people, or TV people stubbornly refusing to broadcast it, I’m going to slope off. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
Mikel Arteta is well chuffed:
A very convincing win, to win the last three games in the Premier League is not easy. Today, when conditions were better, we played some great football. I think the first two goals, the first with Tierney was terrific, the second, the combination play was fantastic as well, and the clean sheet, it gives us the platform to go and win the games. I’m so happy we were able to achieve the target that we had [to win their three festive fixtures] because the table looks completely different, the energy around the place is much better, and wins bring confidence. We’ve got a week now to prepare for another competition, so enjoy tonight, enjoy the victory, go back home if the weather allows and be ready for the next one.
Kieran Tierney has a quick chat. Of his goal, he says “the boys are calling it a cross”. Also:
We wanted to build up points, climb up the table, and the last few games we’ve done that. It’s just consistent hard work. We’ve not changed anything. It’s coming together now. It’s progression. We’re not going to win every game until the end of the season, it’s about building points, getting up the table, catching the team in front of you. The next game’s always the most important one.
Paul Doyle has filed his match report from the Hawthorns:
Fairweather footballers? Not Arsenal, at least not here. Mikel Arteta’s team made light of fierce conditions and desperate opponents to produce possibly their best performance of the season. Kieran Tierney, Bukayo Saka and Alexandre Lacazette scored beautiful goals and, along with 20-year-old Emile Smith Rowe, delivered outstanding displays, helping to give Arsenal a third consecutive victory and renewed hope of a bright future. For West Brom the forecast is bleak.
Much more here:
Tonight the English Premier League table looks like this:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 16 | 17 | 33 |
| 2 | Man Utd | 16 | 9 | 33 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 16 | 14 | 29 |
| 4 | Leicester | 16 | 9 | 29 |
| 5 | Everton | 16 | 6 | 29 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 16 | 13 | 26 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | 15 | 13 | 26 |
| 8 | Man City | 14 | 9 | 26 |
| 9 | Southampton | 16 | 6 | 26 |
| 10 | West Ham | 17 | 3 | 26 |
| 11 | Arsenal | 17 | 1 | 23 |
| 12 | Leeds | 17 | -3 | 23 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton | 17 | -6 | 22 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 17 | -7 | 22 |
| 15 | Newcastle | 15 | -7 | 19 |
| 16 | Burnley | 15 | -11 | 16 |
| 17 | Brighton | 17 | -7 | 14 |
| 18 | Fulham | 15 | -10 | 11 |
| 19 | West Brom | 17 | -28 | 8 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 17 | -21 | 2 |
Final score: West Bromwich Albion 0-4 Arsenal
90+4 mins: It’s all over, and Arsenal have won this game of football at a canter.
12 shots on target and 21 shots overall are both the highest figures managed by an Arsenal side under Mikel Arteta in the Premier League.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 2, 2021
Sam Allardyce has now lost to Arsenal as manager of eight different clubs: Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Everton and West Brom.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) January 2, 2021
Updated
90+3 mins: Another shot on target for West Brom! Pereira’s square pass from the right finds Harper, whose low left-footer from 20 yards or so is tipped wide by Leno.
90+2 mins: Willian cuts in from the right, past O’Shea, past Gallagher, and shoots at Johnstone from the edge of the area.
90+1 mins: There will be three minutes of bonus time.
89 mins: West Brom have their second shot on target, and their first in well over an hour. It’s Gallagher’s effort, from 30 yards, which is firmly struck but straight at Leno.
87 mins: Ceballos slides in on Robinson, wins the ball, takes the man and gets a booking.
86 mins: Arsenal are passing the ball around for the love of passing. They have had 82% of possession in the last five minutes, BT Sport says.
Updated
82 mins: And nearly another! Willian feeds Lacazette, who runs into the right side of the penalty area before sliding the ball across goal, but Aubameyang can’t get a toe to it to turn it in!
82 mins: West Brom bring Rakeem Harper on for Phillips.
80 mins: Willian gives the ball away just outside his own penalty area but West Brom can’t capitalise, and instead they nearly go five down within 20 seconds. Arsenal clear and Aubameyang runs into the area and past Bartley before lashing a shot goalwards which Johnstone beats away.
79 mins: West Brom have a shot! A cross from the left finds three of the home side’s players at the far post competing for the chance to have a go. Austin wins the battle, and half-volleys well wide.
77 mins: Joe Willock comes on for Emile Smith Rowe, who was at the heart of Arsenal’s best moves during the part of the game when Arsenal were full of great moves.
75 mins: Arsenal hog the ball for a while, the move ending with Tierney’s cross dropping to Willian, who should score but volleys instead at Aubameyang, who could turn it in but instead deflects it over!
73 mins: It seems to have stopped snowing snow. It might not have stopped raining goals.
72 mins: Arsenal lead 16-3 on shots, 10-1 on shots on target. “Sam Allardyce’s head looks like a Toby jug which has realised that it’s been used as a chamberpot,” writes Charles Antaki.
70 mins: Saka is fine, but he’s coming off anyway, and Willian is coming on instead.
70 mins: Gallagher is booked for tripping Saka.
70 mins: Arsenal just had to defend a bit.
Goals conceded since Sam Allardyce took over at West Brom in December:
— Mr. Numbers (@Mister_Numbers) January 2, 2021
13 | WEST BROM (4 games)
12 | Palace
11 | Leeds
66 mins: West Brom bring Kyle Bartley on, and take off Ivanovic.
GOAL! West Brom 0-4 Arsenal (Lacazette, 65 mins)
Aubameyang cuts infield, drags a couple of defenders with him and then passes wide to Tierney, all on his own on the left, who crosses to Lacazette, all on his own six yards from goal, who taps in!
Updated
63 mins: And now it’s all Arsenal again.
Bukayo Saka (2) has had more shots on target today for Arsenal than Willian (1) has had all season in the Premier League
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 2, 2021
GOAL! West Brom 0-3 Arsenal (Lacazette, 61 mins)
And there is another goal - but it goes to Arsenal! Ajayi miscontrols and Arsenal move the ball to the right, where Saka crosses. Here Ajayi intervenes again, to volley the ball against his own post. It rebounds to Smith-Rowe, whose shot rebounds to Lacazette, who turns it in! That is an absolute nightmare of a goal for Semi Ajayi.
Updated
59 mins: Arsenal are also playing with reduced intensity, which is helping the home side’s low-level improvement. Also, Aubameyang has been remarkably peripheral throughout. One goal and it’s all to play for.
55 mins: Lacazette is played in, pushes the ball past the keeper on the right of goal, but is left with an unhelpfully acute angle, his shot has the pace removed by a deflection off Johnstone, and O’Shea clears.
54 mins: Bellerin has been taken off, and Maitland-Niles has come on.
53 mins: West Brom are doing much better in the early stages of this half. Which is to say, not completely terribly. They’ve tried a couple of crosses already, which is quite the improvement.
Updated
51 mins: Arsenal cut through West Brom again, but Bellerin’s cross is too close to Johnstone, who catches. The ball is starting to hold up a bit in the snow in some places, so perhaps the home side are tactically not running, to encourage further snow buildup.
50 mins: “Could it be possible for the match be snowed off, if the penalty area line is no longer visible?” asks Jukka Itäkylä. In theory perhaps, but the lines and the penalty areas have had a damned good brushing at half-time and look pretty clear for now.
47 mins: West Brom have the ball in the net, but the flag is up! The ball is lifted over the defence to Pereira, clean through to the left of goal. He shot deflects off Leno onto the far post, rebounds to the edge of the area, and Robinson lashes in the loose ball! Celebrations are cut short by the linesman’s flag, Pereira having been about three yards offside at the start of the attack.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Action has resumed.
The teams are back out, and West Brom have brought Charlie Austin on for Grady Diangana.
Bukayo Saka is the first player born after Sam Allardyce first managed in the Premier League to score against a Sam Allardyce team.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) January 2, 2021
Sure, three goals isn’t very many, but it’s more than anyone else.
There were 20 passes in the build up to Arsenal's opener scored by Kieran Tierney - since Mikel Arteta's first game in charge on Boxing Day 2019, the Gunners have scored more Premier League goals following a sequence of 20+ passes than any other side (3). pic.twitter.com/ab6K2jINMP
— Harvey Downes (@HarveyDownes92) January 2, 2021
Before today, Arsenal had the third-worst record in the Premier League in the first half of matches, ahead of just Sheffield United and (by a point) West Brom (they will now rise a little to 16th). In second halves they are seventh, and West Brom 18th.
Half time: West Bromwich Albion 0-2 Arsenal
45+2 mins: And that’s it! Two excellent goals and a general feeling of supremacy for Arsenal, 15 minutes to pray for further blizzards and perhaps a floodlight failure for West Brom.
45+1 mins: There will be two minutes of further misery stoppage time before West Brom can warm their bodies and lick their wounds.
Updated
44 mins: Tierney finds Lacazette running down the left, and he cuts inside Ivanovic with insulting ease and is clear on goal, albeit from an unpromising angle. He shoots anyway, and it bounces clear off Johnstone.
41 mins: Bellerin fouls Gallagher, and is awarded the night’s first caution.
40 mins: West Brom win a corner, and Ajayi wins the header, but the ball goes well wide. Still, it’s a shot (Arsenal just 10-2 ahead on shots now).
39 mins: The second goal in full. Really top class.
Vintage Arsenal! 🔥
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 2, 2021
An excellent team move completed by Bukayo Saka ✨
That was superb! 👏 pic.twitter.com/jQKtlQlJ4Z
38 mins: The snow has calmed a bit, and the ball leaves a cleared trail as it rolls along the ground, like some kind of synthetic snail.
36 mins: O’Shea tries a long throw, but the ball slips from his hands and loops to the nearest defender.
34 mins: “Would Tierney’s wonder goal count on his record if the match is abandoned,” asks Gary Naylor. “60 years ago, Denis Law scored a double hat-trick that was chalked off.” I once talked to him about that match, a cup game against Luton, but strangely he had pretty much no memory of it.
34 mins: From the corner, Holding forces another save out of Johnstone.
33 mins: More good interplay from Arsenal, and this time it ends with Lacazette’s cross deflecting off Ivanovic and forcing Johnstone into a save.
31 mins: This might get messy. It might also get snowed off, which would appear West Brom’s best hope of avoiding defeat, but that seems quite unlikely. “Right that’s it – with that goal I’ll be happy if the season ended now,” writes Charles Antaki. “Arsenal are still in 13th place, but still.”
That was the best goal we've scored in a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 2, 2021
GOAL! West Brom 0-2 Arsenal (Saka, 27 mins)
A super second for the Gunners! West Brom are sliced and diced by a brilliant combination of passes: Smith-Rowe to Saka, Saka to Lacazette, Lacazette to Smith-Rowe, now bursting into the area on the right, and a square pass to leave Saka with a tap-in!
Updated
25 mins: It’s snowing really heavily now. Here’s some live footage from the ground:
GOAL! West Brom 0-1 Arsenal (Tierney, 23 mins)
After all that attacking down the right, Arsenal score from an attack down the left! Tierney collects a high ball on the left, takes Furlong on down the outside, cuts onto his right foot, sprints past the defender, and curls an excellent right-footed shot across goal and in!
Updated
21 mins: West Brom do a thing! Suddenly the home side break, and Phillips is played through to the right of goal, but he blasts his shot straight at Leno.
19 mins: Bellerin gets down the right, but Johnstone punches away his cross. As with the Conservative Party, Arsenal’s right wing is surging uncontrollably at the moment.
18 mins: Saka cuts in from the right again, and his curling cross is again just beyond Aubameyang. So far Arsenal have had five shots, two on target, and one corner. West Brom’s equivalent stats read 0-0-0.
16 mins: So close! Saka is released on the right, cuts past O’Shea and shoots across goal, and Aubameyang nearly turns it in at the far post but then he ... well ... doesn’t.
14 mins: An Arsenal free-kick from the right is punched clear by Johnstone, and Tierney runs onto it and half-volleys wildly high from 25 yards.
12 mins: Arsenal are well on top in these early stages, but West Brom are defending their goalmouth pretty well. The Gunners win a corner, but it’s headed clear.
9 mins: Saka bursts into the right of the area and stings Johnstone’s palms with a low shot. “Can we get a mention for Deportivo Binacional’s stadium, 12,543 feet up in the Peruvian clouds,” asks Daniel Tunnard. When they’re promoted to League Two we can, sure.
Updated
6 mins: A pleasingly chaotic start to the match. It’s as if the snow hasn’t been cleared at all, but broadcasters have used some technical wizardry to make the pitch look pristine while the players slide and hack through the drifts.
Live footage of the West Brom bench pic.twitter.com/Kw5DchOVYX
— UnderTheCosh 🎙️ (@under_thecosh) January 2, 2021
3 mins: Save! Aubameyang crosses from the left and Bellerin drills a low volley goalwards, but it hits Johnstone’s right leg and rebounds to safety.
2 mins: Cameras find Allardyce absolutely losing his rag on the touchline. Start as you mean to go on, right?
1 min: Peeeeeeeep! They’re off. And then the referee calls them back again. And then they are, in fact, off.
The players are out, and action is just a few moments away. In other news, it is snowing pretty heavily again.
A couple of people have doubted by assertion that the Hawthorns is the country’s highest football ground. One even says Oldham is higher. In fact West Brom’s ground is fully 42 feet above Boundary Park. May I refer you to this bit of an old Knowledge answer (there are, it’s true, some Football League grounds that weren’t in FGoB, but so far as I’m aware the record stands):
According to Simon Inglis’s definitive work, Football Grounds Of Britain, the three highest league grounds above sea level belong to West Bromwich Albion, Port Vale and Oldham Athletic. The Hawthorns - built in 1900 - is the highest of the lot, standing at 551 feet above sea level. Next comes Vale Park (525 feet) and Boundary Park (509 feet).
The highest football ground in England, though, is at Silverlands, home to Buxton FC, which is more than 1,000 feet above sea level - but that’s nothing compared to the real altitude-busters in central and south America.
The Azteca Stadium in Mexico City stands at 7,000 feet above sea level, while the daddy of them all, the National Stadium in the Bolivian capital La Paz, is a breath-sapping 8,500 feet above sea level.
Sam Allardyce has a quick chat about West Brom’s last game, the thrashing by Leeds, and this one:
Obviously not very good on the result, and you have to say that Leeds on this day are physically so much better than any team in the Premier League and that showed on the night. I think the effort we put in at Liverpool took its toll on us. I watched Leeds today against Tottenham, and I wish they’d have played like that against us.
Tonight is about containing a team that’s got a lot of quality, and we have to be aware of their dangers and we have to get the ball, get forward, try to create and try to score a goal. That’s hard for us to come by, but we’ve got to believe and try to do it.
“We’re always told that referees ‘make allowances’ in these conditions,” writes Gary Naylor. “The question is, will VAR?” Well firstly, VAR doesn’t make allowances for anything. Secondly, as BT Sport start their broadcast it isn’t snowing at all, and the pitch is clear and looking perfectly football-ready.
According to the Met Office, the chance of snow in or around the Hawthorns is 90% now, 70% at 8pm and 80% at 9pm. It then warms up, hitting 2C in the early hours of the morning and the balmy heights of 3C tomorrow afternoon.
Snow is falling all around him. Children playing (well, Saka and Smith-Rowe), having fun. It’s the season of love and understanding - Alexandre Lacazette everyone:
💬 "We have to maintain the quality, keep scoring goals and still be more efficient in both halves of the pitch. The confidence is back, but we still have to work to be better."
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 2, 2021
🔜 #WBAARS pic.twitter.com/8mJSpZnbQS
Will these clubs be doing business in January?
Spare a thought for the groundstaff at the Hawthorns. The highest football ground in England, don’t you know.
Updated
Get the orange ball out, lads.
Updated
Both teams make two changes: West Brom bring in Ivanovic and Pereira, with Peltier moving to the bench and Grant having the night off. Meanwhile Ceballos and Lacazette come into the Arsenal side, and Elneny and Martinelli dropping to the bench.
Arsenal's Premier League win percentage with Lacazette and Aubameyang starting together is 39% compared to 52% when one or both are absent.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 2, 2021
Anyway ... heavy snow is coming down at The Hawthorns. Both managers have been out on the pitch with the officials to have a look at conditions. The groundstaff have been working hard to clear snow from the lines but it is still settling across the playing surface. Hopefully all should be fine ...
A little heavier now. #WBAARS pic.twitter.com/qZQLqYfrnW
— Jim Beglin (@jimbeglin) January 2, 2021
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and David Luiz and Willian both return for Arsenal - but only to the bench:
West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, Ajayi, O’Shea, Ivanovic, Sawyers, Matheus Pereira, Phillips, Gallagher, Diangana, Robinson. Subs: Gibbs, Bartley, Grosicki, Austin, Harper, Krovinovic, Peltier, Button, Diaby.
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Pablo Mari, Tierney, Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka, Smith-Rowe, Aubameyang, Lacazette. Subs: Willian, Runarsson, Maitland-Niles, Pepe, Luiz, Elneny, Willock, Nketiah, Martinelli.
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
📋 Here's tonight's starting XI. Branislav Ivanović and Matheus Pereira are in for Kieran Gibbs and Karlan Grant. COYB! 🔵⚪️@MonsterEnergy | #WBAARS
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) January 2, 2021
📋 Tonight's team...
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 2, 2021
🇫🇷 @LacazetteAlex returns to the starting XI
🇬🇦 @Aubameyang7 remains in the side
🇪🇸 @PabloMV5 continues to partner @RobHolding95
#️⃣ #WBAARS
Hello world!
A big game here between two teams who need points, both of whom have injury worries for this match: West Brom might have to live without Kieran Gibbs, while if late fitness tests don’t go their way Arsenal might feel obliged to play one or both of Willian and David Luiz.
West Brom have only won once in the league this season, and have two points from their last six games (only avoiding defeat at Manchester City and Liverpool, perversely). “Let’s hope they see Arsenal as big as they see Manchester City and Liverpool because they seem to do the right things against the teams they seem to have a bit more fear of,” says Sam Allardyce. ““I hope they fear Arsenal and it kicks them into performing like they did against Liverpool and certainly at The Hawthorns. We’ve got to start picking up points wherever we can.”
Arsenal have won their last two games to inject a little seasonal cheer into their season, having approached Christmas with a string of dismal performances and depressing results. Win this, though, and they’ll be sitting pretty in 11th, or 12th if Wolves beat Brighton, and with lots of teams not too far ahead of them. Bukayo Saka is likely to be key, though he came off with nine minutes remaining at Brighton in Arsenal’s last game - other than the match at Leeds in November, when he was injured in the first half, he has missed just 37 minutes of league football since September - and is a minor injury doubt.
Anyway, enough from me. Welcome!
