Arsenal moved back into third place on the Premier League table, crossing Manchester City, courtesy their 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates Stadium. A brace from Alexis Sanchez sealed the result for the Gunners.
The match was billed to be one that could have a huge bearing on Arsenal's Champions League future, as defeat would have seen them remain in fourth spot, one point ahead of Manchester United in fifth. West Brom, on the other hand, did not have a lot to play for, except pride, as they had staved off the threat of relegation and couldn't really move much higher up the table.
Alexis at the double for Arsenal
The game got off to a bright start as the home side scored with virtually their first attack in the sixth minute. Aaron Ramsey passed the ball into Alexis Sanchez's feet. The Chilean pirouetted beautifully to evade Sandro's challenge, recovered his footing, and lashed a low shot into the back of the net from just outside the box.
Immediately after that, the Gunners went on the attack again, as Alex Iwobi's pass found an overlapping Nacho Monreal, whose cross was shot goalwards by Mesut Ozil, but a last-ditch block from Jonny Evans kept the score 1-0.
The next major piece of action saw West Brom appeal for a penalty, as Alexis Sanchez appeared to handle the ball in his own penalty area. The sparse crowd breathed a sigh of relief when the whistle wasn't blown, although replays showed that it could have been given.
The away side then came the closest to breaking the deadlock, as Gareth McAuley's header from a corner hit the crossbar. Arsenal then almost doubled their lead in the 33rd minute as a lovely passage of play saw the ball exchanged between Ramsey, Bellerin and Ozil, with the German's shot squirming through Ben Foster, but the ball was cleared off the line by Evans.
Sanchez then registered his second goal of the night to give his team a two-goal cushion going into half-time. Ramsey was fouled by Claudio Yacob just outside the penalty area, and Alexis Sanchez stepped up to curl in his second of the night.
Not many clear chances in the second half
The second half saw West Brom come out to try and get one goal back, to make the match interesting. The Baggies made two changes at half-time, bringing in Salomon Rondon and Jonas Olsson for Sandro and James Chester.
West Brom went close when Petr Cech had to make a good save to deny James McClean. Just around the hour mark, youngster Iwobi went down in the box, but the referee had none of it and waved play on.
The away side then created the best chance of the second half, as a corner from the left found Rondon unmarked and just needing to tap the ball into the goal, but the Venezuelan made a hash of it, instead clearing the ball away from danger.
Just after that, Ozil was put in through by Sanchez, but the shot was saved by a brave Ben Foster. Arsenal then had a good chance, as Iwobi's pass saw Alexis dummy nicely, setting Ramsey free, whose decision to go for the shot instead of the pass proved to be costly.
The final chance of the game fell to striker Olivier Giroud, whose shot from Joel Campbell's pass was saved well by Foster. The win sees them move up to third position with 63 points, two points ahead of City, and five ahead of Manchester United in fifth. West Brom remain in 14th position with 40 points.
