Arsenal 2 - 3 West Brom: What!?!

Let the questions begin again... Pic via Soccernet.

Arsenal 2: Nasri 75, 90+1
West Bromwich Albion 3: Odemwingie 50, Jara 52, Thomas 73

I'm not going to sugar coat this; Arsenal was flat out awful yesterday and absolutely deserved to lose. This is the kind of match you have to win if you want to claim the league title. That said, remember: there are still 32 games to play in a long season. It's only September. One game doesn't make you a bad team. All hope is not lost. Yet. This weekend, we saw that Chelsea lost their first real test of the season, Manchester United can seemingly only draw away from Old Trafford, and Tottenham Hotspur is probably what we all know they are.

All credit in the world to the Baggies, of course. They came into the Emirates, played good football, didn't resort to ugly tactics to play the game, and thoroughly dominated much of the match. Top class, West Brom.

There were two changes to the side from the line-up that started at Sunderland last week, with Cesc Fabregas injured and Jack Wilshere dropped to the bench for a rest; Emmanuel Eboue got a start in midfield and Abou Diaby returned from the ankle injury he suffered against Bolton.

Arsenal did seem to have the better of play from the start and came close to scoring first when Andrei Arshavin hit the post twice after an Eboue cross. But even at that early stage, it was apparent that this was not going to be Arsenal's day. Their trademarks were not there. The precision passes lacked sharpness and missed the mark time and again, there was almost no creativity for the first 70 minutes of the match, and most players looked like they were just going through the motions. I think that's what was the most unacceptable about this match.

West Brom had the chance to go up 1-0 before the half when given a penalty; Manuel Almunia missed the ball and took out Peter Odemwingie in the box. The Baggies could not take advantage of the opportunity, however, as Chris Brunt took the kick poorly, Almunia guessed right and saved the shot.

But while Arsenal's performance in the first half was poor, it was downright shambolic in the second. Albion struck first five minutes after the restart. Jerome Thomas (formerly at Arsenal) skinned Bacary Sagna on the byline, then fed a cross through four Arsenal players who were caught watching to Odemwingie, who was not being marked as closely as he should have been by Alex Song. Easy goal thanks to poor defending.

Then, it got worse two minutes later. A bit of clever passing beat a hapless Song again. Gonzalo Jara was through and given time to shoot. It wasn't a particularly tricky shot, but it careened off Almunia and into the net. An absolute howler and the worst Almunia has allowed probably since that injury time goal at Birmingham last year or the own goal at home against United last year, just abysmal. In a matter of seconds, the game was spiraling out of control for Arsenal.

Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky came on for Eboue and Diaby, then Carlos Vela was brought on for attacking purposes as Laurent Koscielny was pulled, slotting Song into the back four. Things then managed to get even worse as Thomas made it three to West Brom. Almunia came out to challenge Brunt poorly (think of those goals Ibrahimovic scored for Barcelona in the first leg last year), then Brunt coolly slid a pass back to Thomas, who had another easy goal with Almunia in no man's land.

Arsenal (by which I mean pretty much just Samir Nasri) made an effort to make the scoreline a little less embarrassing on paper. Two minutes after Thomas's goal, Nasri hit the crossbar, then eventually created another opportunity for himself and slotted in a shot from about six yards out despite being covered by about four Albion defenders. Nasri added a second from about fifteen yards out in the 91st, with four minutes left to play. But, Arsenal had dug the hole too deep. A Wilshere cross to Rosicky at the top of the box in the 95th was one-timed over the bar, and that was it.

Nasri was fantastic, as usual. Almunia was horrible. Song was not his usual self and might have had one of his worst games in about two years (it seemed to me that he might have been hesitant to challenge in his usual manner after being sent off last week.) Diaby was unnoticeable. Everyone else was just mediocre.

Now, let's pray to the football gods that Fabregas and Vermaelen are fit for Chelsea next week.