Match report – Player ratings – By the numbers – Video

Well, that was hardly the return to action we wanted, going down 2-1 to West Brom, picking up two more injuries – one of which will have a big impact on our first team, and missing a penalty that would have rescued a point at least. Performance-wise it was poor, there was little to be encouraged about by the way we played, and losing Francis Coquelin to a knee injury over which we’re all holding our breath could be seismic in terms of our season.

As a game it wasn’t exactly the greatest spectacle. Two teams more or less cancelling each other out, West Brom were offside a lot, Alexis had a free kick saved and that was about it. Coquelin’s injury, picked up in the 11th minute when he jarred his knee in a sliding 50-50 with Claudio Yacob, is clearly a big worry. The Frenchman has become so important to this team and the way it plays that losing him for any prolonged period is bound to have serious repercussions.

That his replacement, Mikel Arteta, limped off just minutes into the second half with yet another calf injury was a sad sight. If you read regularly you’ll know I’m a fan of Arteta, he’s been a very important part of this team, but the calf problems now appear chronic and it’s hard not to think that they’re bringing his time at the club to a rather ignominious end.

That he was involved in both the West Brom goals to an extent could be used as further grist for the mill, but in both cases I think he’s being harshly blamed. For the first the award of the free kick was pretty generous to the home side, he definitely got the ball, but you see them given all the time. The bigger problem was the defending for the set-piece. The delivery was hardly stellar, a hopeful ball floated into an area in which we should deal with it, but Hector Bellerin got the wrong side of James Morrison and while I’m not convinced he meant the finish, it ended up going over Petr Cech and into the top corner.

For the second, obviously given as an Arteta own goal, we lost the ball in their half, Bellerin, not his usual self at all yesterday, was found wanting not tracking McClean’s run; you could also wonder if Cech might have done more, and the ball rebounded into the net off the Arsenal captain who had got back into a defensive position and was a bit unlucky really. But, when you’re a lightning rod, there’s no escaping that.

The injury he picked up meant Mathieu Flamini had to come on, and we did have chances in the second half to get back into it. Mesut Ozil, having provided yet another assist for Olivier Giroud’s 28th minute opener, hit the post with the keeper well beaten, while Joel Campbell, on for Kieran Gibbs, squandered a brilliant chance to equalise with about 20 minutes to go.

His run was good, the ball to find him from Alexis Cazorla was better, but the finish was woeful, a miskick that went across goal rather than into the back of the net. When you’re a player like Joel Campbell, apparently desperate to make a career at Arsenal, then those are the moments on which that falls. Put it away and you make yourself important, giving your manager something to think about. Blow it in that fashion and you simply reinforce the doubts and show why you’re the 6th or 7th choice for a place in the team.

The biggest opportunity came in the 84th minute when West Brom were finally punished for their penalty box pushing and pulling. I know it happens in every game but some of it yesterday was ridiculous. Giroud was rugby-tackled to the ground at one point with nothing given, so when Alexis was impeded the referee pointed to the spot.

I don’t know if the shenanigans between the award of the penalty and Santi Cazorla taking it had any real impact on what happened. It looked as if one of their players did something to the ground around the penalty spot, but just as he was about to kick the ball the Spaniard slipped, resulting in the ball going over the bar. He’s usually a very reliable penalty taker, so that pretty much summed up our day.

After that there was no way back, West Brom hung on for the three points, and we now have lick our wounds – both physical and metaphorical. Afterwards, Arsene Wenger said:

It was a bad afternoon, we missed a penalty, we gave a goal away on set-piece, that is perfect to make your afternoon a nightmare and we missed open goal chances. We lost a bit of focus at 1-0 – at 35 minutes we were 1-0 up and then at 45 we were 2-1 down. Our defending on that level was very, very poor.

Before the game he’d talked about not making mistakes, and injuries aside, both those goals were avoidable had we defended better. During the week I spoke about how games like these were vital for a team that has ambitions of winning the title, so you have to wonder about that even if Liverpool’s win over Man City still leaves us in the mix. Leicester are top, but as good as they’ve been it’s difficult to see the maintain this kind of form for the whole season.

We remain level on points with City, just one behind United, but when you can’t win games like this one, you can’t help but worry about our title pretensions. Still, it is just 2 points between us and the top of the table, so while it’s a big disappointment it’s hardly a killer blow.

What may have greater consequences is the injury to Coquelin. Obviously we have to wait and see how serious it is and how long he’s going to be out for. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but it’s one of those where it could just as easily be long-term as it is a temporary absence. He went in hard on that challenge, both players got the ball at the same time, and he could have damaged his ligaments.

Fingers crossed, obviously, but if he were to be out for any sustained period it means the manager is going to have to rethink the midfield completely. Cazorla-Coquelin works, I’m not sure Cazorla-Flamini or Cazorla-Anyone Else does. Perhaps the return of Aaron Ramsey gives us something to work with there, but it will definitely change the dynamic of the team if Coquelin is out for a while.

All in all, a pretty unpleasant day at the office. We have Europe to contend with on Tuesday, the injury list keeps growing and that in itself means that we’re more susceptible to further fitness issues. It feels a little like we’re at a fork in the road in terms of the destination of our season. Let’s hope we can go down the right path.

Till tomorrow.