51 min: West Brom look to mount an attack but you can sense the belief that was present in the opening 20 minutes has drained away.
49 min: … after a scramble in the box it drops to Smith Rowe, whose effort from distance is straight at Johnstone.
48 min: Pepe tests Johnstone again after a loose defensive header puts the Arsenal winger in. Corner …
47 min: Furlong sends in a looping long throw but Arsenal deal with it well, as they have all evening to be fair.
Peep! Off we go again then.
Some half-time reading: here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report from Kingsmeadow, where Chelsea secured the WSL title with a thumping win.
Peep! PEEEP! A very satisfactory half for Arsenal in the end. And credit to Mikel Arteta, who spotted a vulnerability on the right side of the West Brom midfield and tweaked things to allow Saka to exploit it. West Brom have it all to do.
43 min: Saka again gets into the West Brom box … and with few options square just thunks an effort in at the near post. Johnstone saves with his feet.
41 min: Another short one, again nicely worked, ends with Chambers thumping over from the edge of the box. Arsenal look transformed from the early stages of this match.
40 min: Taken short and another lovely, fluid attack from Arsenal puts Saka in behind again and Ajayi heads away for another corner.
39 min: West Brom need to score twice, then, to avoid relegation being confirmed today. They’re wobbling at the moment though, as Willian gets in behind again and forces a corner.
36 min: Johnstone got fingertips to that Pepe effort but there was far too much sauce on the shot. I think I’m right in saying that there have only been more four expensive signings in the history of British football (Pogba, Maguire, Van Dijk and Lukaku) – those sort of goals make that fact feel not quite so crazy.
That’s a stunning strike. Pépé cuts inside from the right, as is his wont, and across the corner of the area. From there he sends a thunderous effort across Johnstone and into the top corner.
32 min: Elneny and Ceballos have grabbed control of midfield and Albion are struggling to break their grip.
The Gunners had just been gradually turning up the heat over the last few minutes and they have the breakthrough. Predictably it comes through Saka, who has been the best Arsenal player on the pitch by some distance. Again he wriggles clear on the left, a little punched cross finds Smith Rowe at knee-height and the youngster volleys home emphatically.
28 min: A scuffed corner bobbles across the West Brom box and somehow evades the Arsenal attackers.
26 min: … Willian floats it in to the back post, Holding volleys across but it hits a defender and its out for a corner.
25 min: Pass, pass, pass from Arsenal. It’s not entirely clear what the plan is … but Cebellos tempts Phillips into a daft challenge and Arsenal have a dangerous free-kick, 30-ish yards out …
23 min: Albion throw-in on the right and it’s Furlong’s turn to send the ball into the box. Again Arsenal deal with it comfortably.
22 min: Elneny looks to bend in an effort from distance but it’s straight at Johnstone.
21 min: The worry for West Brom will be that they’ve been the better side for 20 minutes but have exactly nothing to show for it.
19 min: Three dangerous crosses in quick succession from West Brom but they meet either fresh air or the heads of defenders. Diagne was a whisker away from getting on the end of one of them.
18 min: Saka again gets away down the left and Furlong just gets back to make a superb tackle. For a second that looked like it was going to be a nailed-on penalty but the young Albion right-back did brilliantly.
17 min: Superb from Saka on the left, skipping past Robinson and to the byline. His cross, though, cannot find a red shirt.
16 min: Ajayi’s clearance finds Pereira wide on the left and he surges forward on the break before blasting a couple of yards wide from distance.
14 min: West Brom hit the bar! Robinson controls a cross from the left and pokes past Leno, onto the woodwork. The flag then goes up and replays show he was clearly offside but still – Arsenal have just not got going yet.
12 min: Robinson turns in the area and sees his shot blocked by Holding. Then Pereira picks up the loose ball, slips inside and pings a screamer inches wide of the top corner from 25 yards. West Brom certainly the livelier team thus far.
10 min: Ajayi thunks the ball foreard and out for a throw in by the Arsenal corner flag. It looks like a terrible ball but it’s really not too bad in this territory-based plan of Big Sam. Indeed West Brom quickly win the ball back in the Arsenal half and look to build again.
8 min: Townsend goes long and aimless; Gabriel tidies up. There’s no mystery in the way West Brom are going to play.
6 min: The blue-booted Ceballos slips a lovely ball into the left channel for Saka. His cross pings around in the area and pops up to Pepe, who skews well over from 10 yards. Only a half-chance at best, but that was decent from the home side.
5 min: Elneny is loose in midfield and a spell of Arsenal possession ends with West Brom on the attack. Townsend hoiks the ball in from left back and Leno claims comfortably.
3 min: Gallagher whips it in and again Holding climbs highest.
2 min: West Brom get a throw-on on the left and Townsend hurls hit into the box. Holding gets up and nods away for a corner.
Peep! Off we go then. Arsenal get us under way.
Click-clack, click-clack … out come the teams, Arsenal in red, Baggies in their green and yellow away kit.
There have been further protests against the Arsenal ownership outside the ground this evening. Lovely day for it to be fair.
Here’s the mountain facing West Brom:
Defeat tonight sees them relegated.
A bit of pre-match reading for you: here’s Jonathan Wilson on football’s billionaire owners.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1 probable)
Leno; Chambers, Holding, Gabriel, Saka; Ceballos, Elneny; Pepe, Willian, Smith Rowe; Martinelli. Subs: Runarsson, Bellerin, Tierney, Cedric, Partey, Odegaard, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Nketiah.
West Brom (4-3-3 probable)
Johnstone; Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend; Phillips, Yokuslu, Gallagher; Pereira, Diagne, Robinson. Subs: Button, Peltier, Taylor, O’Shea, Gardner-Hickman, Livermore, Diangana, Grant, Robson-Kanu.
So Martinelli will spearhead the Arsenal attack. Looks like West Brom will revert to a back four.
Hello all. And welcome to a proper, good old Sunday night misery fest. Arsenal, who are, shall we say, not having a nice time of it, welcome West Brom, who could be relegated, to the Emirates at a kick-off time no one could possibly enjoy.
Albion need a point to stave off relegation for a few days at least and they’ve got a fighting chance. Over the past 10 games they picked up only two fewer points than Arsenal (13 to the Gunners’ 15) and Sam Allardyce has finally managed to instill some stubborness in the squad – just three defeats in the last 11 games isn’t bad going.
Arsenal … well, Arsenal. Nick Ames’s piece on Friday seemed to cut right through to the point – Arsenal are coming up short in all aspects at the moment, on and off the pitch.
Kick off is at 7pm BST.
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