SMART ALEX
Lacazette just two hot to handle
ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE was at the double for Arsenal last night.
West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster brilliantly turned Alexis Sanchez’s 20th minute free-kick onto the bar but could do nothing to stop £52m ace Lacazette heading in the rebound.
The French striker then slotted in his second from the spot in the 66th minute after Allan Nyom bundled over Aaron Ramsey.
West Brom made Gareth Barry captain for the night on his 633rd Premier League appearance, breaking Ryan Giggs’s record.
The 36-year-old nearly set up the opener after seven minutes when his neat ball released Jay Rodriguez, who should have had a penalty when he was brought down by Shkodran Mustafi.
Instead the Baggies striker bounced back up but his shot clipped the outside of the far post, with keeper Petr Cech beaten.
ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE stole Gareth Barry’s thunder in a battle of the recordbreakers at the Emirates.
Barry became the first player to make 633 Premier League appearances, beating the previous best set by Ryan Giggs.
But Lacazette’s 20th-minute opener made him the first Arsenal player to score in his first three Premier League home games – and the first Gunner to do it in the league since Brian Marwood in 1988 in the old Division One.
The £52.7m signing from Lyon then grabbed a second from the penalty spot in the 67th minute to put the Gunners on the road to victory.
The two sides tore into each other from the off with chances at both ends in a frantic opening.
First, Alexis Sanchez whipped a freekick just wide with Ben Foster beaten in the West Brom goal.
Then Barry picked out Jay Rodriguez, who was tripped in the box by Shkodran Mustafi before getting up to have his shot tipped onto the far post by Petr Cech.
Jake Livermore put the rebound wide with the goal gaping. Baggies boss Tony Pulis was screaming furiously for a penalty but referee Bobby Madley allowed play to go on when he should have pointed to the spot.
Pulis was even less happy with what happened next. He saw his side give away another free-kick in a dangerous position when centre-back Jonny Evans dived in on Mo Elneny.
This time Sanchez was almost inch perfect, forcing the back-pedalling Foster to tip the ball onto the crossbar.
Unfortunately for the former England keeper Lacazette was there to mop up and he nodded in like a true poacher.
Arsenal had won six in a row at home to West Brom in the top flight before this, conceding just once in the process, so the visitors suddenly had it all to do.
Dangerous
Sanchez curled another free-kick wide and he could also have had a penalty after Grzegorz Krychowiak pulled his shirt which was unseen by the referee.
But West Brom then went close to an equaliser when Krychowiak swung in a cross and Rodriguez beat Cech with a header, only for Nacho Monreal to clear off the line.
Rodriguez looked as dangerous as anyone at times and was inches away from connecting with an excellent low cross by
Allan Nyom before the half was over. But the omens did not look for West Brom. On the previous 47 occasions Arsenal had led at half-time here in the Premier League, they had never lost.
Lacazette, chasing down his strike rivals in the early race for the Golden Boot, almost bagged a second shortly after the break. Sead Kolasinac powered down the left and swung in a cross which Elneny played right into the danger zone.
Lacazette was on to it in a flash and his shot was goalbound until former Gunner Kieran Gibbs launched himself at it to deflect the ball over the bar.
If the Frenchman had left it, Aaron Ramsey would have had an even better chance to score as he was completely unmarked at the far post.
But at 1-0, there was always a chance the visitors would find a way back into the game and they grew in confidence the longer Arsenal failed to kill the game off.
When they did cause problems, they struggled to find a final ball and at times they looked alarmingly vulnerable on the counter-attack.
Pulis rolled the dice by throwing on Salomon Rondon and James Morrison but things went from bad to worse for his side in the 66th minute.
Ramsey turned Nyom on a run to the byline and when the Baggies defender barged him to the ground, Madley this time pointed to the spot.
Lacazette stepped up to take it and although Foster guessed the right way, his penalty was right into the bottom corner. ARSENAL (3-4-3): Cech; Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal; Bellerin, Xhaka, Elneny, Kolasinac; Ramsey, Lacazette, Sanchez. Subs: Ospina, Mertesacker, Wilshere, Ozil, Giroud, Walcott, Maitland-Niles. WEST BROM (3-5-2): Foster; Dawson, Hegazi, Evans; Nyom, Livermore, Krychowiak, Barry, Gibbs; Rodriguez, Robson-Kanu. Subs: Yacob, Morrison, Rondon, Phillips, Brunt, Myhill, McClean. Referee: Bobby Madley.