Match report – Player ratings – Video

Two wins in a week? I could get used to this kind of thing.

As always, the Hawthorns proved a difficult place to get a result but despite hanging on a bit at the end I think we were good value overall for the three points. If there was concern at half-time it was because we’d dominated in terms of possession and chances created. We’d had 8 shots to their none and in those circumstances it’s hard not to worry about doing that very Arsenal thing of conceding to their first attempt.

Our forward play was interesting with Welbeck, Giroud and Alexis all starting. The return of the Frenchman does add something to the team in terms of the combination play, the flicks in and around the box, and we made a couple of half-chances through that. Welbeck didn’t look uncomfortable on the left as some suggested. Indeed, he ended up playing on the right for a while as he and Alexis swapped positions, while Giroud remained the focal point of the attack.

Behind them a regenerated, effervescent Santi Cazorla buzzed around, controlling things from an Arsenal point of view. Ramsey got forward while Flamini sat, and the back four looked a lot more solid with Koscielny back alongside Mertesacker. But there was the nagging worry about where the goal was going to come from, particularly as Alexis looked a bit jaded (only to be expected given his recent efforts). It meant one of the others had to take up the slack and that man was Danny Welbeck.

The England international got his first goal since the late equaliser against Hull on October 18th. It was created by Cazorla who showed skill and strength to get down the left, hold off the defender, and clip a lovely cross in for Welbeck to attack. His leap was fantastic, and the header just too powerful for Ben Foster to keep out. He’d had a chance in the first half, created well by Aaron Ramsey, and saw his close range effort well saved, but on this occasion he made sure with a thumping header.

West Brom responded with attacking substitutions that forced us into some backs to the wall defending. I had hoped that maybe it might allow us to hit them on the counter, but I don’t think we’re that on top of our game yet. Instead we concentrated on keeping our shape and not doing anything silly defensively. From the point the goal went into until the final whistle we made 21 clearances (some of them quite industrial, no chances were taken), 8 blocks and won 60% of our aerial duels.

Even still we rode our luck a little bit. Berahino hit the bar with a looping header and Martinez beaten, before the young keeper saw a shot flash just wide the help of a small Ramsey deflection. Mertesacker stopped a shot with his mickey but won a series of towering headers, and in the end the home side just couldn’t find a way through.

Afterwards, the manager said:

In the end our solidarity got us through when the legs went in the last 10 minutes. Maybe we were a fraction lucky on the crossbar, but overall it’s a well-deserved win. We had a clean sheet against Dortmund and we had one today. Defensively we were maybe a bit more stable.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the best Mertesacker performance for a while came when he had his mate beside him. Even if Koscielny looked a little rusty at times, and misjudged an offside early in the second half which could have proved costly if the linesman had kept his flag down, we just seemed more assured overall with those two together.

Behind him the young keeper did well, Mathieu Flamini pulled an Arteta by completing 96% of his passes in a particularly disciplined performance, while Santi Cazorla was, for me, the stand-out Arsenal performer. That’s three assists in a week now for him and although his shooting boots are still out for repair, it was good to him play as well as he did.

Having suffered debilitating defeats to Swansea and Man Utd, we have responded well in the last two games. I don’t think we were quite as comfortable yesterday as we were against Dortmund, but in the end it’s all about the result and the points and on both counts we can be happy with our return from West Brom.

The only downside, and there always appears to be one, are more injuries. Nacho Monreal was forced off after what looked like an innocuous incident and those ones always worry me. Kieran Gibbs appeared to do some damage to his knee but played on until the end, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also picked up a knock but as it was kick on the knee I’m hopeful it’s nothing more serious than a little bruising. However, with so many games coming up and so little time between them, we just can’t afford any more setbacks, particularly with the defenders.

They’re all due to be assessed on Monday so keep your fingers crossed as we’ve got a tricky fixture in midweek against Southampton. For now though, it’s a much more contented Sunday than this time last week.

Till tomorrow.

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Arsenal: Martinez, Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Ramsey, Welbeck, Alexis, Cazorla, Giroud

Subs: Macey, Gibbs, Bellerin, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Campbell, Podolski