Arsenal vs. West Brom: Score, Reaction from 2016 Premier League Match

An Alexis Sanchez brace saw Arsenal defeat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 and move to third in the Premier League on Thursday, two points ahead of Manchester City and within five points of rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal's maestro scored twice before the break to provide manager Arsene Wenger with a comfortable result in a match where the Baggies rarely looked as though they were threatening their north London hosts.

This was another demonstration of how powerful Arsenal can appear without much penetration to show for it, and Kicca's Ian Stafford highlighted how the match declined after Sanchez's opening salvo:

Sanchez came into Thursday's meeting with four goals in his last five Premier League outings, and it took the Chilean only six minutes to open his side's account.

Picking the ball up on the edge of the Baggies' box, he completed a swift turn around his defender before lashing a right-footed shot into Ben Foster's bottom-left corner. Sky Sports Statto told the story of how important he's been to the Gunners in front of goal of late:

Arsenal dropped two points in their previous outing against Crystal Palace, drawing 1-1 after controlling long periods of the fixture, but the hosts looked to have learned their lesson this time around.

The Baggies came close to drawing level at the half-hour mark, when centre-back Gareth McAuley headed a corner off Petr Cech's bar.

Manager Tony Pulis saw his side frustrated at every corner, while the home outfit looked capable of adding to their advantage, with Mesut Ozil seeing an effort cleared off the line by Craig Dawson.

McAuley's earlier miss was all the more hurtful when Sanchez curled in a free-kick for Arsenal's second, as Sky Sports Football showed:

Pulis' men never looked like they could reduce the deficit after failing to register a single shot on target in the first period, per WhoScored.com, and their hopes didn't improve greatly after the restart.

Despite Arsenal's joy on the pitch, there was a side attraction to Thursday's match. On Wednesday, Sky Sports reported 2,500 fans returned their Emirates Stadium season tickets prior to the midweek matchup, and the London Evening Standard highlighted the empty seats in view:

The hosts continued to play beautiful football, while their foes were forced to do little else other than watch on, but it's become a familiar story for Arsenal to demonstrate a lot of huff and puff with no real effect.

There was a sense this was an opportunity for the capital giants to go for the jugular and demonstrate some guile and audacity against a team there for the taking—but it never came.

Olivier Giroud looked starved of chances up front, even though the industry of Ozil, Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey looked promising, and Wenger's men appeared content to settle with their three points.

Sanchez and Ozil were withdrawn in the final moments to give Theo Walcott and Joel Campbell some minutes, but the Mirror's Jack Lang couldn't help but illustrate the boring spectacle on display:

Victory saw Wenger's men clinch just their third win in five matches, having drawn back-to-back Premier League games against West Ham United and Crystal Palace earlier this month.

The north Londoners would still require an almighty collapse on behalf of leaders Leicester City and second-place Spurs, though upcoming fixtures against relegation-threatened Sunderland and Norwich City bode well for their Premier League hopes.

Post-Match Reaction

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For all the entertainment on display in the first period on Thursday, there was a decidedly more dampened mood in the second half of the clash, which Wenger addressed in his post-match comments.

When asked for his take on the thousands of empty seats at the Emirates, Wenger hinted that perhaps there were other reasons for the fans' absences, per NBC Sports' Joe Prince-Wright:

"

To come and support the team. If you love football, if you go out there I think you see quality football. That’s what we try to give to our people. It is a special night as well, Thursday night. I don’t know if you are intelligent enough, nor am I, to dictate exactly why everybody who did not turn up tonight did not turn up.

"

Wenger also responded to a question regarding why Arsenal haven't taken advantage of the lull of the usual top four this season to win the league, per Wright:

"

Of course ideally you always want to score early goals but the Premier League is the Premier League. It is difficult for everyone Look at the table. There are top teams who are behind us and because Leicester is in front at the moment everybody thinks we should have done it. Yes, okay, but you can say that for any other team because Leicester was bottom of the table last year. So all of the other 19 teams can say that.

"

Many Gunners fans may not buy the idea that just because the rest of the division can't take advantage of the open nature of the Premier League, it's OK for Arsenal not to, either.

Despite the win, there was a sense of pressure creeping in on Wenger, with dour points still evident even in the midst of a three-point success.