West Brom vs Arsenal (16/17)

Team news:
West Brom: James Morrison (ankle) is a doubt for West Bromwich Albion and winger Matt Phillips (hamstring) remains doubtful.

Arsenal: Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny is back in training but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring) faces a fitness test and Arsene Wenger has uncertainties over defender Kieran Gibbs (knock).



THE MANAGER
Arsenal need little introduction to Tony Pulis, having encountered his Stoke, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion sides repeatedly over the past decade. This is a fairly typical Pulis side: West Brom defend narrow, are combative in the centre of the pitch, attack quickly down the flanks and have a big target man up front. They’re not as dependent upon long balls as his old Stoke side, but they’re among the Premier League’s most direct sides, and average the least possession in the league, 41 per cent.

FORMATION
Pulis plays a 4-5-1 and heavily depends upon Salomon Rondon, his lone centre forward, for goals. That’s been something of a problem in recent weeks, though, as Rondon hasn’t score since mid-December, when he netted a hat-trick of headers against Everton – which rather underlined his style. Pulis tried Hal Robson-Kanu up front last weekend, coincidentally also against Everton, but is likely to return to Rondon.

STRENGTHS
West Brom are the division’s most effective side at scoring goals from set-pieces – they’ve managed 16 this season, by far the most in the Premier League and more than twice as many as Arsenal. Veteran centre back Gareth McAuley is the man to watch out for – he’s scored six times this season, the most of any defender in the top-flight, which makes him the Baggies’ second top scorer.

DANGERMAN
Nacer Chadli started the season in fine form following his move to Tottenham, and while his form has wavered since then, he’s ideal for Pulis’ system – a hard worker, a good counter-attacker from the flanks, and a big physical force too.

AREAS TO TARGET
McAuley remains an excellent centre back but at the age of 37 lacks speed, while West Brom can be vulnerable to overloads down the flanks as their wide players tuck in. Arsenal will be allowed plenty of possession, but must ensure they switch play rapidly to exploit any gaps.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170317/the-breakdown-west-brom-preview

We are not winning this lol

1-1 probably

You just know Ben Foster will have the game of his life for this one

West brom are only 10 points behind us lmao. 7 when they beat us

*Tony Pulis has won only one of his last nine Premier League matches against Arsenal (D2 L6), although it came in this exact fixture last season at the Hawthorns (2-1).

*Pulis has only lost one of his six previous Premier League home games against Arsenal and Arsene Wenger (W3 D2 L1) and is unbeaten in the last four.

*Arsenal have scored in all 21 of their Premier League meetings with West Bromwich Albion; their best such 100% record in the competition.

*The Gunners have lost just one of their last 12 Premier League games against West Brom, winning nine (D2 L1).

*All three of Olivier Giroud’s Premier League goals versus the Baggies have been headers; with two of those proving to be match-winning strikes (Boxing Day 2016 & May 2014).

*James Morrison has found the back of the net in two of his last three Premier League games against Arsenal at the Hawthorns.

*West Bromwich Albion have currently suffered 599 home defeats in their league history – only Notts County (633) have lost more since 1888.

*Arsenal have lost three of their last four Premier League matches (W1 D0 L3); the same number of defeats as they had suffered in their previous 32 matches in the competition.

*Alexis Sanchez has been involved in 26 Premier League goals this season (17 goals, nine assists) – more than any other player in the competition.

*Since Tony Pulis took charge of WBA in January 2015, the Baggies have scored a higher proportion of goals from set-pieces (47.8% - 43/90) than any other team in the Premier League.

Ozil misses the game through injury, apparently.

There is definitely something going on with him.

I think he is more likely to leave than Sanchez

Özil is suffering at Arsenal. He wants to come home to Chelsea

Great team imo

Line up is a little top heavy but lets go !!

3 points are a must if we are to avoid relegation

Nyom just John barnes down on our right wing

Where was Bellerin

My dayz

who piked up Dawson

What a pass by Xhaka,

What would we do without Sanchez eh, probably be relegated

decent ball by Ramsey, who was there to attack it

Wellbeck out of Sync with everyone in attack at the moment

So Cech is injured and Ospina who offers no presence comes on a set pieces sight

I like how EP is having his own little party here

Meh first half,

in terms of creativity, Ox and Ramsey don't offer much. Xhaka is the one who has to do everything. Wellbeck and Theo need to get in the game a bit more. Sanchez and Ramsey are the ones who have been more threatening going forward. It's not enough.

EL Patron wrote:Wellbeck out of Sync with everyone in attack at the moment

I am a big admirer of Welbeck and would like to see him get more chances up top but it's true, he's not looked up to it so far today.

our defending

We have no clue what we are doing with set pieces, probably deserved this today ffs

ahahahaha im *bleep* dying now

same old

Comical defending.

We are done in the Premier League for the season. I'd rather the new manager not have the Europa League burden while trying to fix us.

That 3rd goal had me in stitches

4 Arsenal players marking one player

3 WBA players lining  in to score that header

Unreal

Europe League could be a blessing. Look at us this season. I originally thought that too, now I feel relieved we're in it ffs.