Arteta delighted after Arsenal take ‘the handbrake off’

ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta insisted the Gunners have taken the handbrake off after their rout of West Brom.

Alexandre Lacazette’s second-half brace and fine strikes from Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka earned a dominant 4-0 win at the Hawthorns.

The Gunners have now won three straight games in the Premier League for just the second time under Arteta.

They rose to 11th, three points behind the top six, just weeks after their season threatened to collapse and Arteta was being questioned - but the boss can see progress.

“This is as close as it gets to what we want,” he said. “This is an Arsenal team with the idea I want. There were certain moments when we were very close to that. The players had the handbrake off and you can see they are free to play.

“There were moments when we were really good, both defensively and offensively.

“This is exactly what we want the players to do. The energy and the momentum is much more positive.

“It is always tough to win away from home and we have done it in a really convincing way. It’s three in a row and we had talked about the importance of this week.”

The ruthless visitors went ahead after 23 minutes when Tierney twice beat Darnell Furlong to cut in from the left and fire beyond Sam Johnstone. Five minutes later, it was 2-0 when Albion were cut open and Saka finished off a flowing move involving Emile Smith Rowe and Lacazette.

Lacazette then scored twice in three second-half minutes.

First, he scored after Semi Ajayi turned Saka’s cross on to the post and blocked Smith Rowe’s follow-up strike. The striker then tapped in Tierney’s cross from a yard out.