West Brom vs. Arsenal: Score and Reaction from 2017 Premier League Match

West Bromwich Albion cranked up the pressure on Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on Saturday, as a Craig Dawson brace condemned the Gunners to a 3-1 defeat in the Premier League. 

The match started quickly, with Dawson's 12th-minute header cancelled out by Alexis Sanchez's close-range strike just three minutes later.

The Gunners lost goalkeeper Petr Cech to injury before the break, and the teams went in level.

In the 55th minute, substitute Hal Robson-Kanu put the hosts back in front. Dawson headed in his second from a corner in the 74th minute.

Having lost their previous two matches, there was an urgency about West Brom to begin the game, and they capped a flurry of early pressure with a typical Baggies goal.

Nacer Chadli fizzed in a superb corner, and Dawson rose to head the ball past a rooted Cech. While the leap was magnificent, the Arsenal defending left much to be desired.

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The visitors, given their reputation as a fragile team, could have easily crumbled after falling behind, but Arsenal instead came surging back. Once again, talisman Sanchez did the damage in the opposition penalty area.

Granit Xhaka arrowed a long pass into the Chilean at the back post. From there, Sanchez kept his cool to sit a defender down, then finished high above Ben Foster to restore parity. Sky Sports Statto captured the moment the Arsenal forward slotted home:

Despite no more goals coming before the half-time whistle, there was plenty of incident. Theo Walcott couldn't finish from close range after a goalmouth scramble, while Salomon Rondon flashed a shot just wide after an excellent run.

The Gunners lost Cech before the break, with David Ospina replacing him. Meanwhile, Sanchez was the target of some unsavoury tactics from the hosts, as Jonny Singer of the Daily Mail noted:

After the break, Rondon went close for the hosts again, heading just wide. And it was a surprise to see manager Tony Pulis withdraw him from the action. However, it proved to be a masterstroke, as Robson-Kanu made an immediate impact.

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After a scramble in the box, the ball broke for the Wales international, who prodded past Ospina; James McLean was on the line for West Brom but jumped over the ball to ensure he wasn't offside.

Arsenal almost grabbed another quick equaliser, but Danny Welbeck's header hammered back out off the crossbar. They could have fallen further behind too, when Robson-Kanu was stopped by Ospina when through on goal and Chadli had his rebound cleared off the line.

The Baggies were patient, though, and when another corner came about, they capitalised on more nervousness in the Arsenal defence. And once again, Dawson towered above everyone in yellow to score a simple header.

As noted by James Dall of ESPN, the visitors' defending was poor:

The goal prompted banners to be brought out in the away section of the stadium that called for Wenger to leave his post. In the latter stages, there was never any danger of them forcing a way back into the match.

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Wenger has steered Arsenal into the top four of the Premier League on a consistent basis, but with the team sat in fifth position and in rotten form, there's a real danger they could miss out this time around.

The same issues reared their heads for this team: they lacked organisation, aggression and focus against a technically inferior but more determined outfit. It looks as though the Arsenal boss will have more difficult questions to answer about his position. 

Reaction

After the match, Wenger spoke of his disappointment at the performance and his team's poor run of form, per sportswriter James McNicholas on Twitter: