This Boxing Day we see West Brom travel to the Emirates to take on an Arsenal side reeling for 2 consecutive league defeats. Having taken the lead in both games, Wenger will be furious that he has allowed a 9 point gap to open between his team and Chelsea. West Brom comes into this game on the back of decent form, and having lost to both Chelsea and Man United in recent games, they will be looking to Arsenal to take a scalp against one of the top teams in the league.
Getting back on track
The game against City was a real chance to keep up with the leaders while doing damage to an immediate rival, but it wasn’t to be; as against Everton in their previous game, Arsenal fell to another disappointing defeat. Their second half capitulation at the Etihad has led to some serious soul-searching, with Mesut Ozil coming under focus for a lacklustre display, and Wenger deflecting that criticism onto others in his team. Arsenal fans are looking for results rather than excuses, and a home game against West Brom seems to be the opportunity to regroup.
Looking at the head to head records we can see Arsenal have a strong pedigree of beating Albion: 14 victories, 3 draws and 3 losses for Wenger’s team, and West Brom haven’t beaten them away since 2010.
Arsenal can add Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Shkodan Mustafi to a growing list of first team players out with injuries. In-form Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott will be available, and the focus will be on Ozil, Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin to make big improvements on their performances in Manchester.
Tony Pulis looking for one up against an old rival
The bitter feud between these two managers has cooled in recent years, but no doubt will Pulis be hoping to take some valuable points away against a man of whom he once said “I’ve got nothing against foreign managers, they are very nice people. Apart from Arsene Wenger.”
West Brom have been in solid form this far, sitting pretty in 8th place, they have had a tough run of games leading up to Christmas, and while there is no shame in their losses to Chelsea and United, Pulis will be looking to improve on those performances to take at least a point in North London.
West Brom has a mostly fit squad, with only Jonny Evans and James Morrison of their regular starters in doubt.
Where is the value?
It’s likely that we will see another rearguard display from Pulis’ boys. While West Brom has been fairly free-scoring against teams they are more confident of a result against, we have seen a much more cautious, organised approach against the bigger club. It’s likely that they will allow Arsenal the majority of possession while hoping to do some damage in the air from set pieces.
Arsenal to win is at 1/3 with Bet365, so it might be worth enhancing these odds, and seeing as West Brom failed to score against either Chelsea or United it could be worth taking Arsenal to Win BTTS/No at 6/5. I think this game will really depend on how Arsenal turn out on the day; if they can fire themselves up to get a result they desperately need, then they should be able to take all the points with minimal fuss. But should the flaky, unreliable Arsenal we have seen all too much of in recent times turn up, then there could be value in backing West Brom on a double chance at 2/1 with William Hill, but this is definitely an outside chance.
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