Match report
Hector Bellerin and Petr Cech engage in a long debate with Mike Dean. Cech ends up getting himself booked. What an end to 2017! It was, however, a pretty dire game. Not that West Brom will care. A contentious penalty was enough for them to snatch a point off Arsenal, who thought they’d won it after James McClean’s own-goal. Arsenal go fifth, three points behind Liverpool, before hosting Chelsea on Wednesday. West Brom clamber off the bottom and will need to recover quickly before visiting West Ham on Tuesday night. Thanks for reading and emailing. Happy new year! We’ll be back ... tomorrow. Good old football. Bye!
Full-time: West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Arsenal
Happy new year, Arsene!
90 min+3: Sanchez shoots wide from 25 yards. Calum Chambers is still shaking his head. “To me, the issue isn’t whether a handball was intentional but rather was it avoidable?” says Mike Mackenzie. “Chambers couldn’t have avoided that ball from hitting his arm, I’d say.”
90 min+2: A high ball from left to right reaches Lacazette at the far post. He somehow dribbles past McClean, but then he wallops a cross straight at Foster.
90 min+1: Mike Dean has trotted over to the touchline for a discussion with Wenger, who’s still livid.
90 min: Jack Wilshere was booked for dissent after the award of the penalty. Arsenal’s goal, meanwhile, has gone down as an own-goal by James McClean. There will be four added minutes.
GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Arsenal (Rodriguez pen, 89 min)
Jay Rodriguez drives the penalty down the middle and Petr Cech dives out of the way! West Brom are level and Arsenal are furious. Arsene Wenger is remonstrating on the touchline and Calum Chambers isn’t happy either. His arm was in front of his midriff when the ball hit him.
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PENALTY TO WEST BROM!
88 min: A long ball down the left. Kieran Gibbs reaches it and tries to hook it into the middle. It hits Chambers on the arm, the crowd appeal and Mike Dean points to the spot! It didn’t look intentional, but West Brom have their first penalty of the season!
86 min: Ouch.
Grzegorz Krychowiak has been on the winning side in one club game in 2017. PSG 1-0 Nancy in March. And even then he got substituted at half-time.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) December 31, 2017
84 min: Alexis Sanchez got a lot of hugs. On Sky, Gary Neville is criticising West Brom’s wall. It looked shoddy and McClean made it worse.
GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Arsenal (Sanchez, 83 min)
Arsenal resist the urge to let Per Mertesacker take the free-kick, so it’s left to Alexis Sanchez. He hits it low and hard and McClean turns his back on the ball. Oh dear. It hits him and flies inside the left corner! It might have been going wide. But Arsenal don’t care. Mr Popular has done it again!
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82 min: Sanchez tumbles just outside the West Brom area after being sandwiched by Dawson and Barry. This is a great chance for Arsenal. Give it to Mertesacker.
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79 min: “As a New Year augury, the wonderful thing about this game is that it absolutely guarantees that 2018’s football will be better,” says Charles Antaki.
77 min: Or maybe they haven’t. Jay Rodriguez finds some space near the Arsenal area and has a pop. Cech beats it away.
75 min: West Brom have declared. Allan Nyom replaces Hal Robson-Kanu.
74 min: Iwobi shoots straight at Foster from 25 yards. That’s his final contribution: on comes Danny Welbeck.
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72 min: Per Mertesacker replaces Laurent Koscielny, who’s presumably tweaked something. West Brom make two changes, Grzegorz Krychowiak and James McClean replacing Chris Brunt and Matt Phillips.
71 min: The Arsenal fans are calling for Danny Welbeck’s introduction. Lacazette lays off a pass to Sanchez, but his fierce shot is brilliantly blocked. West Brom are falling deeper and deeper.
69 min: West Brom have defended pretty well. Lacazette is a danger, but they’re doing their best not to give him a sniff.
66 min: Xhaka sends a three-yard pass out for a throw.
63 min: Sanchez cuts inside and drills a low shot into the side netting from the left.
62 min: Sanchez clips a pass through to Lacazette. The balls seems to be running away from Lacazette, with Evans nearby and Foster waiting to collect it. Lacazette opportunistically sticks out his boot, though, and surprises Foster. The ball dribbles just wide of the right post, though.
60 min: Wilshere pings a pass to Lacazette. Iwobi tees it up for the striker, who meanders into the box before driving low with his left foot. Foster saves with his feet, turning the ball behind for a corner. West Brom survive.
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59 min: Brunt’s free-kick is punched away by Cech.
58 min: Robson-Kanu, who won’t stop running, twists and turns on the right before being taken out by a lunge from Mustafi, who’s booked.
56 min: Brunt’s corner is deep. Evans heads it down and Hegazi controls before hooking over under pressure.
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55 min: Robson-Kanu hares down the left and swings in a fine cross. Maitland-Niles heads it behind at the far post.
52 min: This remains scrappy. Still, the West Brom fans are making some noise.
50 min: Sanchez clips the free-kick straight into the wall. Poor.
49 min: Bellerin feeds a pass into Lacazette, who’s knocked over on the edge of the area by Dawson just inside the D.
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46 min: Arsenal get the second half underway.
Half-time: West Brom 0-0 Arsenal
Can someone please go and fetch Mesut Ozil?
45 min: There will be two minutes of added time.
41 min: A sloppy pass from Maitland-Niles puts Mustafi in trouble. The German concedes a free-kick. West Brom take it quickly and move the ball to Phillips, who easily skips past Maitland-Niles. His cross is half-cleared and reaches Gibbs, whose shot from the left is blocked.
38 min: After a bright start, this is deteriorating. Time to open the champagne.
37 min: Kolasinac is struggling - he was caught by Barry a few minutes ago. Ainsley Maitland-Niles replaces him.
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35 min: Evans takes a heavy touch, panics and slides into Iwobi on the slippery surface. Booking.
34 min: Arsenal are crying out for a Gervinho here, a Chamakh, a Bendtner.
32 min: Robson-Kanu scampers behind Arsenal on the left and does well to hold the ball up. Then he passes it back to Brunt. Then Brunt sends his cross out for a goal-kick.
30 min: In space on the right, Iwobi cuts back on to his left foot and lets fly from 25 yards. Foster awkwardly and unconvincingly pushes it behind for a corner, which is a hot waste of time. “One of the features of a Wenger team over the last few years has been the ability to make bottom-of-the-table teams look like Brazil 1970, and it’s good to see that tradition continuing here in his record-breaking game,” says Charles Antaki.
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28 min: Arsenal break for the first time in a while, purposefully so, Sanchez racing away, but the move gets clogged down and Xhaka ends up fizzing a tame low effort straight at Foster from 25 yards.
27 min: It’s a poor effort from Brunt, however, wafted over the bar to jeers from the Arsenal fans behind Cech’s goal.
26 min: After more forceful play from West Brom, Mustafi brings down Robson-Kanu 25 yards from goal. It’s around five or 10 yards to the left of the D, but Brunt fancies it with his left foot.
25 min: West Brom are enjoying a decent spell. Arsenal aren’t enjoying themselves.
22 min: Phillips, West Brom’s chief source of creativity, sees a cross headed behind. Brunt’s corner is clawed away by Cech.
19 min: Breaking: Arsenal miss Mesut Ozil.
17 min: Sanchez loses possession and West Brom break, but Cech is out quickly to stop Robson-Kanu from reaching a long pass from Phillips.
16 min: Sanchez dinks a pass into the box for Iwobi, who shrugs of Evans and turns, only to lean back and send his shot over the bar from an inviting position.
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15 min: Kolasinac breaks into the West Brom area on the left, but he runs out of space.
12 min: Brunt hoists the ball high into the Arsenal area. Dawson rises highest and heads it back across goal and Robson-Kanu wins the next header, but the ball hits Chambers and Arsenal eventually scramble it clear. Play has to be stopped. Mustafi is down clutching his head after being caught by Dawson.
11 min: West Brom win a corner on the right. Surprisingly they take it short and work the ball to Phillips, 25 yards out. His deflected shot is flicked behind for another corner.
10 min: West Brom don’t look particularly comfortable at the back. Under pressure on the right, Phillips sends the ball back in the direction of Foster. But Lacazette has read it and he gets there before the goalkeeper, only for his touch to take the ball behind for a goal-kick.
8 min: Arsenal respond impressively, Xhaka loping forward. He disguises a clever pass through to Lacazette on the edge of the area, but the striker’s crowded out. No matter, he wins the ball back and exchanges sharp passes with Bellerin before seeing his shot take a deflection and spin just wide. This has started promisingly.
7 min: West Brom attack for the first time, Phillips bursting down the right and reaching the byline. He stands up an inviting cross to the far post, but Cech saves Rodriguez’s header down to his left. Moments later Cech makes a hash of an up and under from Brunt, spilling it. Robson-Kanu’s shot is blocked and the ball runs to Livermore on the left. The midfielder’s centre is cleared.
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4 min: The corner comes to nothing, but Arsenal keep pushing. Sanchez tries to play a one-two with Lacazette, only for Gibbs to toe the ball behind. Again, though, the corner’s a waste.
3 min: Sanchez has his first touch and he looks full of energy early on, bustling through a couple of challenges in midfield. Arsenal make their way up the right and eventually win a corner.
Peep! The final Premier League match of 2017 is underway! West Brom, in their blue and white stripes, kick off from right to left. Arsenal are in red and white shirts, red shorts and red socks, meaning they look like they’re wearing an old Fulham away kit.
Here come the teams! The rain is starting to fall at The Hawthorns and the Sky pundits are having a fine discussion about gloves and snoods.
West Brom can win 100-0 here and they’ll still start the new year in the bottom three because of Crystal Palace’s draw with Manchester City earlier. But the way that Palace held the runaway leaders should give West Brom some encouragement. Arsenal, after all, are nowhere near as good as City. A victory will only take Arsene Wenger’s side into fifth place, a point behind Liverpool.
Alan Pardew speaks! “Since it’s the end of the year, it’s been a tough year for West Brom. Seven victories all year sums up the problems West Brom have had. But this group has responded well. We are searching for goals and trying to rectify that. We feel we have more quality on the pitch. We have to get the stadium involved.”
“Please tell me 2018 can’t be as bad as the last two years,” JR in Illinois says. “In November 2016 the Chicago Cubs (ugh) won the World Series which I’m convinced was the beginning of the apocalypse (though from your view maybe it was the Brexit referendum vote that summer). Less than a week after the Cubs victory you-know-who was elected president. Then we start 2017 with him taking office and actually being stupider and crazier than most people even thought possible. Then the Baggies hit the 40 point mark and essentially end their season in mid-March. They have won two league games since then. And I end the year with the indignity of having Alan Pardew as the head coach of the team I support. Come on!”
Pre-match reading
Mesut Ozil is absent because of a minor knee injury. He’s also a doubt for the Chelsea game on Wednesday.
West Brom make one change from the 0-0 draw with Everton on Boxing Day. Salomon Rondon misses out with a hamstring injury, so Hal Robson-Kanu starts up front. They don’t have much firepower on the pitch or on the bench.
Arsenal also make a solitary change from the win over Crystal Palace, but it’s a big one. Mesut Ozil is nowhere to be seen – waggish types are already saying he’s making his way to Manchester now – and Alex Iwobi starts in his place.
Team news
West Brom: Foster; Dawson, Hegazi, Evans, Gibbs; Livermore, Barry; Brunt, Phillips, Rodriguez; Robson-Kanu. Subs: Myhill, Nyom, McAuley, Yacob, McClean, Krychowiak, Burke.
Arsenal: Cech; Chambers, Koscielny, Mustafi; Bellerin, Wilshere, Xhaka, Kolasinac; Iwobi, Lacazette, Sanchez. Subs: Ospina, Mertesacker, Maitland-Niles, Coquelin, Elneny, Walcott, Welbeck.
Referee: Mike Dean.
Preamble
Hello. This time last year Alan Pardew was licking his wounds after being sacked by Crystal Palace a few days before Christmas. The good news is that he’s back in work. The bad news is that West Bromwich Albion, who remain winless under their new manager, are bottom of the Premier League after Swansea City’s late victory over Watford yesterday. All they have to do to end 2017 on a high note, however, is beat Arsenal.
And very history is in West Brom’s favour! This fixture, after all, represented a nadir for Arsenal, who defended appallingly at set-pieces and were clobbered 3-1. Yet that was the last good memory of the Tony Pulis era and West Brom have been pretty wretched since then. Pardew is still searching for the right formula – scoring goals remains a bit of an issue, which isn’t ideal for a team battling against relegation – and Arsenal arrive at The Hawthorns in a good mood after Thursday night’s resilient 3-2 win over Crystal Palace.
Arsene Wenger will expect another three points, but will any of his players be wishing Alexis Sanchez a happy new year? An intriguing match awaits us.
Kick-off: 4.30pm GMT.
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