ARSENAL FALL OFF THE PACE

ARSENE WENGER conceded Arsenal are in a ‘difficult moment’ of their season after losing ground in the title race at The Hawthorns. Defeat dropped them from second to fourth and they also lost two more players to injury before a vital Champions League game. Francis Coquelin left on crutches after damaging his knee and his replacement Mikel Arteta came off with a recurrence of a calf problem. They are both major doubts for tomorrow evening’s clash with Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates, which Arsenal must win to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stages. Wenger admitted none of Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Alex OxladeChamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck or Tomas Rosicky would be fit to feature — but issued his side with instructions to respond strongly to this adversity. ‘It is a difficult moment for us,’ said the Arsenal manager. ‘In the last two games we took one point out of six, which is very difficult and disappointing when you are on such a great run. We have to come back quickly and focus.’ Olivier Giroud’s glancing header gave Arsenal the lead but West Brom struck twice late in the first half to move ahead. James Morrison cushioned a volley past Petr Cech, then Arteta diverted a cross into his own net. Arsenal had a chance to level with seven minutes left but Santi Cazorla ballooned his penalty over. Defeat denied Arsenal the chance to go top for the second time in as many games and Wenger could not deny his side are fallible against the Premier League’s middling teams. He was angered by his players switching off at 1-0 up. ‘I feel we became a bit too easy at 1-0 despite the experience we have,’ he said. ‘You cannot say at the back we have no experience. ‘But I could feel it from outside, instead of pushing on we became vulnerable. We knew at set-pieces they were dangerous but they didn’t even need to head the ball.’