“One goal in his last sixty five appearances” said the commentator of Rosicky. His reply was to score two goals and win Arsenal the match. It wasn’t an easy game, however, as Mertesacker’s red card gave WBA a golden chance at a comeback.

It was a game we dominated until the sending off and were comfortably 2-0 up. But I had expected us to dominate the ball and create chances. WBA’s strategy against the big teams has been to stay compact, keep the scoreline close, and then attack towards the end of the game by bringing on fresh substitutes.

It was Long who started the game ahead of Lukaku as WBA’s lone striker. He ran the channels all afternoon until finally winning the penalty. The stage was set for Lukaku to finish off the comeback. He bullied the Arsenal defenders at times and seemed to be at the center of every West Brom attack, but when the ball fell to him kindly in the box, he curled it wide and Arsenal managed to hold onto their lead. The key ended up being Rosicky’s two goals.

WBA were not too ambitious with their attacking, but they also didn’t sit back and let Arsenal have the ball. Playing a 4-5-1, they pressed Arsenal’s midfield and were effective in disrupting our passing rhythm. Rosicky, Arteta, and Ramsey had to work very hard to find space. But Rosicky, it has to be said, was very, very good at finding space. He popped up in pockets of space everywhere and drove Arsenal forward.

When WBA did win the ball, they kept it well also. They didn’t quite pass it like Swansea, but were much better than Reading. At the very least they had a gameplan. They knew what they wanted to do. Which was 1. attacking down the wing and put in crosses. This didn’t work very well in the first half as they lacked any real presence in the box. What it did mean was that the fullbacks Jones and Ridgewell were keen to push up and provide width. 2. WBA tried to play aerial through balls to Shane Long behind Arsenal’s defence. Again and again Long was caught offside but they persisted. Long’s pace and movement through the channels was their greatest threat and it culminated in the penalty and red card.

We caught Shane Long offside several times as WBA tried to release him with balls over the top. That was their most effective attacking tactic.

To West Brom’s credit, they had begun to push forward more since Rosicky’s second goal. The second half cavalry had come off the bench and Arsenal were having some defending to do. Just before the penalty Morrison had gotten clean in behind the defence and drew a good save from Fabianski.

To me this highlights the fragility of our midfield. At times it was too easy for WBA to play around our midfielders, and not for the first time this season we had trouble winning the ball back. This was evident in the fact that Rosicky and Ramsey both picked up first half bookings.

There will be times when the midfield gets beaten, and perhaps Mertesacker should have dealt with it better, but this season it has been too easy for teams to pass around us at times. We need a destroyer in there next to Arteta or Ramsey.

For the last 20 minutes, Arsenal went 4-4-1 and WBA gave everything they had to get the equalizer. We rode our luck at times as Long and Lukaku both missed good chances from inside the box. WBA’s crosses too were more dangerous with Lukaku in the box. We understandably had a lot of defending to do, but what was disappointing was our inability to keep the ball for even a few seconds.

Fabianski’s errant kicking was a factor in this. He finished with a pass accuracy of just 56%, completing just 9/19 long balls. But crucially, he completed just 2 passes after the sending off. It was a mixed afternoon for Fab who endured some nervy moments but also came up with some big saves and catches.

Overall, a crucial win that we had to work really hard for. Rosicky was the clear man of the match. Our football was great to watch at times, but so often we fail to take advantage of our dominance. This time Rosicky took his chances well and ensured we had a lead to defend when things got tricky. There are some weaknesses in our play but if we keep performing like this we will find it very difficult to drop points.