Mikel Arteta then bundled James McClean’s delivery into the back of his own net to give Albion the lead, and although Arsenal were handed a lifeline with an 82nd-minute penalty, Santi Cazorla slipped at the vital moment to balloon his effort over the crossbar.
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Arsene Wenger has not spoken yet to Santi Cazorla following his missed penalty which could’ve salvaged a point for Arsenal.
Sunderland are the only team to have lost at the Hawthorns and a loss against Arsenal will make it three on the bounce for the Baggies, who are now only six points clear of the drop zone. “I think at 1-0 up we became a little too easy and the equaliser they scored sums it up well, they didn’t even need to have the ball”.
“Our defending at that level was very, very poor”.
The outcome was Leicester City moved to top spot thanks to their 3-0 win at Newcastle United, with Manchester United also leapfrogging the pair thanks to their 2-1 triumph at Watford.
Wenger said he did not know the extent of the injuries to Arteta and Coquelin, saying the former suffered a recurrence of a muscular problem while Coquelin will undergo a scan tomorrow on the knee he damaged in a tackle on Claudio Yacob.
We have two more injuries.
ARSENAL(4-2-3-1): Cech 6; Bellerin 6, Mertesacker 6, Koscielny 6, Monreal 6; Cazorla 6, Coquelin 4(Arteta 14, 4 – rep Flamini 49, 6); SANCHEZ 8, Ozil 8, Gibbs 6(Campbell 63, 5). With a number of important games, well nearly every game is important, coming up for the Gunners, just how can Wenger cope with yet another significant injury?
“I am anxious because when he went to Chile he was already a bit jaded and to see what state he will come back (in), I will have to test”. It is frustrating, it is disappointing and what you want is to learn from a game you didn’t deserve to lose.
West Brom manager Tony Pulis, whose side drew level through James Morrison before Arteta’s own goal, acknowledged that his players had gained victory despite not being at their best. “It is hard but we have to bounce back”.
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The shot-stopper admitted: “I thought when we had the penalty that we would still have a chance to search for the third goal, but it was one of those games where it was not going our way”. To take over you have to adapt to the players you’ve got and the way we play now suits us.
