Arsenal - 5 West Brom - 2:English Premiership: Arsenal are back on top of the Premiership but only after making life more difficult for themselves than seemed imaginable at half-time. Having scored three times in the first 25 minutes last night and outclassed West Brom, Arsene Wenger's team had to survive a few scares before sealing the points.
Goals by Ashley Cole, Lauren and Sylvain Wiltord set Arsenal cruising and more of the same appeared likely after the interval. But West Brom reduced the arrears through Scott Dobie and had more opportunities before Wiltord converted Cole's cross to finish the contest. Jason Roberts' late strike became an irrelevance as Jeremie Aliadiere restored Arsenal's three-goal lead in injury time.
Everything had suggested that Arsenal would prevail. They came into the game on the back of 10 consecutive home wins in domestic competition and few outside the Hawthorns can have envisaged an upset.
Yet few could have imagined such an emphatic, destructive opening from Arsenal against a West Brom side who came close to snatching a draw at Old Trafford in their first game of the season before going down to a late Ole Gunnar Solskjaer strike.
Where Manchester United struggled for a breakthrough, Arsene Wenger's players scored inside three minutes and managed another couple long before half-time. The authority, flow and decisiveness of their football blew away West Brom.
The visitors must have hoped for a resilient opening but were instead quickly behind to a fantastic strike by Cole. Nwankwo Kanu, starting his first game of the season in the absence of the injured Dennis Bergkamp, chipped a pass down the left and Cole, bursting forward, twisted and turned past Darren Moore in such style that he left the defender on the turf before shooting across Russell Hoult and into the top corner.
Although Albion were showing plenty of endeavour, Arsenal's superior movement enabled them to sweep forward almost at will. Albion spent the opening period on the back foot. They were trying to force openings, often stemming from stern challenges in midfield by Sean Gregan and Derek McInnes, and Scott Dobie did test David Seaman with a low shot from outside the box.
But just when they must have felt they were coming to grips with matters, Arsenal struck twice more in the space of three minutes. "That's why we're the champions," sang the clock end, and the clinical finishing and quick, incisive football was highly impressive.
Lauren was the scorer of Arsenal's second, with Kanu again the provider. The Nigerian went past Phil Gilchrist on the right side of the area before crossing for the full back to take one touch and shoot beyond Hoult.
When Wiltord clipped Henry's excellent pass over the onrushing Hoult shortly after, it put the seal on a fine period of clinical Arsenal play. From three clear openings they had scored three times and they could begin to toy with their opponents.
When Jason Roberts had a brief glimpse of goal before half-time, an excellent tackle by Sol Campbell denied him.
Having been given such a chasing, it was a credit to West Brom that they emerged for the second half at all. Last season a tight defence was the backbone of their success. Here was a reminder of how big the gap is between the top of the First Division and the Premiership's leading lights.
Albion rallied well and gave their vociferous fans something to cheer about when sloppy defending by Cole allowed Dobie to score. The defender miscontrolled a high ball on the edge of his own box and it ran for the striker to slide a shot under Seaman.
The sight of two West Brom shots in quick succession was a sign that the visitors did not consider this a lost cause. Seaman had to be sharp to deny Dobie another goal after a mistake by Martin Keown and what should have been a stroll suddenly found a slightly nervous edge to it for Wenger as time ran out.
Guardian Service
ARSENAL: Seaman, Cole, Keown, Campbell, Lauren, Wiltord (Aliadiere 82), Vieira (Toure 79), Silva, Edu, Henry, Kanu (Parlour 67). Subs Not Used: Taylor, Luzhny. Booked: Edu, Keown, Campbell. Goals: Cole 3, Lauren 21, Wiltord 24, 77, Aliadiere 90.
WEST BROM: Hoult, Clement, Moore, Gilchrist, Sigurdsson, Balis, McInnes (Marshall 62), Johnson, Gregan, Roberts, Dobie. Subs Not Used: Wallwork, Dichio, Taylor, Jensen. Booked: McInnes, Clement. Goals: Dobie 51, Roberts 87.
Referee: P Durkin (Dorset).
