Arsenal Claims Just 1 of 3 Needed Points From West Brom

Due to other commitments, I was unable to review Arsenal's trip to West Brom yesterday. But, I've decided to give you my thoughts on the game today, as well as Arsenal's prospects for their remaining nine games this season.

Arsenal made the trip to West Brom on Saturday knowing a win was a must to keep the pressure on Premier League leaders "Manure." Though West Brom had won their September match against Arsenal, their struggles of late, especially defensively, made West Brom ripe for the picking.

Arsenal had not conceded a goal in the first 15 minutes of any league game this season, but after only three minutes that statistic was altered. A corner was swung in from Arsenal's right hand side and Steven Reid rose to head the ball home unchallenged. It looked like Ramsey was the player who should have being marking him, but he had let him go instead. After the trauma of exiting three competitions in two weeks, it was exactly the start Arsenal didn't need. The question was whether the Arsenal players could respond to that early setback, and get the vital three points.

For the remainder of the first half, Arsenal didn't do enough to show if they even cared about such an important game. There were a few chances though, and the best of them fell to Aaron Ramsey. Gael Clichy made a fine run and put an excellent cross into the box which Robin Van Persie headed against the bar with the keeper looking on helplessly. The rebound fell to Ramsey six yards from goal, but his attempt was blocked by the keeper.

At half time the Boss decided it was time to make a change and withdrew the ineffectual Denilson to be replaced by Marouane Chamakh. It meant Samir Nasri moved to a more central role, but Arsenal still didn't get their free flowing football going.

If the official statistics for the game are to be believed, then West Brom only had three attempts at goal in the whole game, two of which were on target. Unfortunately, both attempts found the back of the net.

For the second goal, during the 58th minute, Sebastien Squillaci was tussling for a long ball with Peter Odemwinige, and it didn't look like there was too much danger for Arsenal. However, Almunia then demonstrated why he is just not good enough to play for a team challenging for the Premier League by rushing from his goal to join in the tussle for the ball. It didn't seem to matter to him that the ball was well outside the penalty area, as he proceeded to push Squillaci to ensure Odemwinige got the chance to roll the ball into an empty net from outside the box. Koscielny had done his best to get back and cover his keeper when he saw him make his kamikaze run, but the ball beat him to the goal and Arsenal were down 2-0.

The Boss has to consider how much of a liability he is for the last nine games of the season.

When the international break ends Wojciech Szczesny will be approximately three weeks away from returning from his finger injury, and those three weeks cannot pass quickly enough for me. The boss has to seriously consider playing 41 year old Jens Lehmann in goal in Arsenal's next two games against Blackburn and Blackpool or their chances might well be ended before Szczsny returns.

After that goal, West Brom sat back and Arsenal threw everything they had at them, but got nowhere. In the 70th minute, a moment of inspiration from Andrey Arshavin to get them back in the game. He exchanged passes with Chamakh on the left edge of the West Brom box before taking a touch and burying the ball into the far corner of the net.

Suddenly there seemed to be hope and Arsenal went looking for the equaliser.

Arsenal tied it up only seven minutes later, and Arshavin was the man behind the move yet again. He was under pressure from two defenders by the left hand corner of the pitch, but he somehow managed to get a cross into the penalty area. Bendtner managed to get some part of his body to the ball beyond the far post and it went back into the six yard box. As Abdoulaye Meite tried to clear the ball it got stuck under his foot, and Robin Van Persie slid in to tackle him. He just about got his foot on the ball and it barely trickled over the line to put the sides level with enough time for Arsenal to take all three points.

It looked as if a disappointing day could turn out to be a joyful one after all. Try as they might, Arsenal just could not manage the all important winner. Unfortunately, Manure managed a winner in near the end of their game as Jussi Jaaskelainen very generously handed them a lifeline. It means Arsenal are now five points behind the league leaders with a game in hand, and Manure still have to visit them in early May.

Unbelieveably, Arsenal are still the masters of their own destiny in the league, as nine victories in those games will result in a league title for the first time in seven years. I don't for one second think they will win all nine of those games, but there are still a lot games to be played by all teams involved in the title chase. Those teams now have to include Chelsea who beat Man' City on Sunday to close the gap of Arsenal to just four points. They have yet to travel to Manure this season and it all makes for a very interesting run in for all clubs concerned.

The title chase is narrowing down, and unbelieveably, Arsenal is still the master of their destiny. They have nine games left, winning all nine will win the league title, however, I don't believe for one second that this is likely. As it stands now, they hold only a four point lead over Man' City. Which puts even more emphasis on winning.

The battle to avoid relegation is so tight this season that no team can be taken for granted. On the face of it, Arsenal's next two opponents are teams they should easily dispose of, as both Blackburn and Blackpool are struggling at the moment. However, since both teams are scrapping for their survival, and both games will be very tense affairs. There's no more room for errors for Arsenal, and if they don't win these games, I firmly believe the Premier League title will be beyond them this season.

Hopefully the return of Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Theo Walcott after the international break will add the inspiration which is so sorely missing from the team at the moment. I am also hoping the Boss has finally decided Denilson is just not up to the task, and he will be left on the bench from here on in. He is the first player substituted in almost every game he starts, and against struggling teams, he doesn't offer enough offense.

At least Arsenal found some goalscoring form again after only managing one goal in their last two Premier League games. With Almunia on the team they are always going to have to score at least two goals in a game to have any chance of winning, in my opinion. He sticks to his line far too often, and then eventually decides to leave it at inopportune times.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed Lehmann gets that practice over the next two weeks before Arsenal play again. 

That's it for today.

Here are the highlights from Saturday's game.

See you tomorrow.