Arsenal 2-0 West Brom: Bobby Madley denies Baggies a penalty before Alexandre Lacazette hits a double to secure win and spoil Gareth Barry's night

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From the wreckage of their dismantling at Liverpool a month ago, Arsenal have somehow managed to place their Premier League season back on to something resembling a steady footing. No defeats since then, Arsene Wenger’s team are now just a point from the top four.

So, from that point of view, Arsenal can approach another winnable league game against Brighton at the Emirates this weekend with some kind of optimism once they have travelled to Belarus and back on Europa League duty on Thursday.

Nevertheless, those who watched this game closely will know the truth of what they saw. 

Arsenal picked up three Premier League points with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over a spirited West Brom side on Monday

New signing Alexandre Lacazette put Arsenal in front after 20 minutes of the first half following an Alexis Sanchez free kick

The France striker was the quickest to react after Sanchez's free kick was kept out by a combination of Ben Foster and the bar

Arsene Wenger's side run to celebrate with Lacazette, whose goal separated the two sides at the half-time whistle on Monday

Arsenal were comfortable in the second half, much better than West Brom. They dominated possession and controlled the game. Once Alexandre Lacazette scored his second of the night and the fourth of his debut English season with 25 minutes left the game was effectively settled.

But what of what went before? Well, that was different.

Arsenal were uncertain and edgy in the first period, defensively twitchy and rather disorganised. They led at the break but did not deserve to and had it not been for another aberration from referee Bobby Madley early on they would in all likelihood have been behind.

At full-time, as Tony Pulis removed his glasses, the West Brom manager must have been tempted to hand them to the official. How Madley didn’t award a penalty when Shkodran Mustafi tripped Jay Rodriguez in the eighth minute maybe even his own optician will not know.

Madley has been in the news already this season. He sent off Chelsea winger Pedro – correctly – in the Community Shield and Manchester City defender Kyle Walker – incorrectly – in a league game against Everton the very next weekend.

MATCH FACTS, RATINGS AND PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE 

Arsenal (3-4-3): Cech; Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Bellerin, Elneny, Xhaka, Kolasinac; Ramsey (Maitland-Niles 90), Sanchez (Ozil, 83), Lacazette (Giroud, 83)

Subs not used: Ospina, Mertesacker, Wilshere, Walcott

Goals: Lacazette 21, 67

Yellow cards: Sanchez 44 

West Brom (5-3-2): Foster;  Nyom (Phillips, 74), Evans, Hegazi, Dawson, Gibbs; Livermore (Morrison, 63), Barry Krychowiak; Rodriguez, Robson Kanu (Rondon, 64)

Subs not used: Myhill, Yacob, Brunt, McClean 

Yellow cards: Evans 35, Dawson 49, Krychowiak 55, Nyom 66

Referee: Bobby Madley

Attendance: 59,134

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Alexandre Lacazette scored the opening goal of the game on 20 minutes after reacting quickest to Alexis Sanchez's free kick, which came back off the bar. For more information and statistics see Sportsmail's brilliant Match Zone.

 

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The Frenchman made sure of the points from the penalty spot after Allan Nyom was penalised for a foul on Aaron Ramsey

Nyom was booked by referee Bobby Madley after bundling over the Wales midfielder near his own byline after 66 minutes

In the first-half Madley did not award West Brom a penalty after Jay Rodriguez was tackled by Shkodran Mustafi in the area

West Brom boss Tony Pulis was unhappy with the referee's decision not to award a spot kick when the score was still 0-0

This, though, was an abysmal effort. As Rodriguez ran on to a pass from Gareth Barry, he turned back inside and was felled by Mustafi. It was a clear foul and should have been a penalty. Maybe Rodriguez didn’t help himself by jumping up and forcing Petr Cech to touch his shot on to the post. What’s more, Jake Livermore then should have converted the rebound.

But none of that should really have mattered. They were accessories that followed the main event. The main event was a foul and, as such, West Brom were denied the opportunity to take the lead against a team that, given the way they played for the rest of the first half, may not have reacted very well.

Pulis was beside himself on the touchline. He usually is. But this time he had every right to be and we can imagine what went through his head when Arsenal gathered themselves to take the lead 12 minutes later.

This time Madley did spot a foul, on Mohamed Elneny by Jonny Evans right on the edge of the West Brom penalty area. It was a tight call but this time Madley was right. Just. And when Alexis Sanchez curled his free-kick off Ben Foster’s fingers and on to the crossbar Lacazette reacted better than anybody else to nod the rebound in to the empty goal.

Rodriguez got back to his feet and struck a shot against the post - Jake Livermore then missed an open goal in the follow up

Alexis Sanchez, who started the match having been benched against Chelsea, fires an early free kick wide of the target

Hal Robson-Kanu tries to close down Arsenal centre back Laurent Koscielny during the first half of the Premier League clash

Hector Bellerin, who made his debut four years ago to the day against the Baggies, tries an acrobatic cross into the area

When he calms down, Pulis will notice that his defenders were caught on their heels. That may irritate him as well. But the way his team responded will only encourage the West Brom boss as twice before the interval they could have found a way back in to the game.

Sensing uncertainty among the Arsenal players, West Brom were ambitious and that was good to see. It is not something we can always say about them away from home.

In particular, they were causing Arsenal problems from wide positions. Despite their credible goalless draw at Chelsea recently, Wenger’s team did not look organised across the back here. At times it was too easy for West Brom to cause them problems.

Certainly the visitors should have been level in the 38th minute. A cross from Grzegorz Krychowiak found Rodriguez peeling off the back of his marker and his header would have crossed the line had it not been for an acrobatic clearance at the death by Nacho Monreal.

Aaron Ramsey gets his head to the ball ahead of ex-Manchester United defender Jonny Evans but the attack came to nothing

The visitors had a host of first half chances but poor finishing and Nacho Monreal's goaline clearance kept Arsenal in front

Rodriguez, who had hit the post early on in the clash, was as guilty as any of the Baggies for failing to convert good chances

Gareth Barry broke the all-time Premier League record for appearances on Monday and nearly levelled just before the break

It was a let-off for Arsenal and soon they had another one. This time it was Barry arriving at the far post on to a Livermore cross and he may have marked his record-breaking Premier League appearance with a goal had his contact been a little cleaner.

So Arsenal were a little uneasy on their lead at half-time even if they did improve markedly from that point on.

Lacazette may have scored in the 51st minute only for his shot to be deflected over and then Mustafi improvised with a neat flick from a corner only for Foster to save with two hands high above his head.

Before long the game had a different and well established pattern, one of Arsenal dominance. So when Madley awarded them a penalty in the 65th minute it was in keeping with the flow of play.

The offence this time was a crude, obvious and unnecessary shove by West Brom right-back Allan Nyom on Aaron Ramsey at the byline.

Lacazette’s low penalty was convincing and the Frenchman looks a real asset already. If others can reach his level, Arsenal may yet have better nights than this. 

Kieran Gibbs, meanwhile, was back at the Emirates for the first time since leaving his boyhood club for the Black Country

The ex-Arsenal full back battles with his former team-mate Ramsey on a frustrating and fruitless night for the visitors

Barry was named captain on the night for West Brom - but he was beaten to a header by his Arsenal counterpart Koscielny

Nyom, who was booked and then replaced during a difficult second half, battles with Sanchez for possession on Monday

Sanchez was replaced late on, too. The Chile forward came off for German Mesut Ozil, who was surprisingly left on the bench