- Arsenal holds 5W-2D-1L advantage since WBA promotion
- Baggies drew Gunners twice at Hawthorns in last year
- Gunners 60W-28D-32L all-time vs. West Bromwich Albion
Either Arsenal or West Brom will snap a two-match Premier League losing streak on Saturday at the Hawthorns. (Watch live at 745 ET Saturday on NBCSN and online via Live Extra).
Struggling in the Premier League but fresh off a UEFA Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal will be shorthanded for their trip to WBA. Theo Walcott, Wojciech Sczczesny and Mikel Arteta will not be available for the Gunners.
The Baggies are coming off losses to Chelsea and Newcastle, and are four points back of eighth place Arsenal. They are also just three points ahead of the drop zone.
WATCH AT 745AM ET SATURDAY ON NBCSN AND ONLINE VIA LIVE EXTRA
What they’re saying
Arsenal mid Aaron Ramsey on teammate Alexis Sanchez– “He works so hard for the team and when he gets an opportunity to score, he scores. It took him a couple of games to get into it, but he has not stopped scoring since. The thing which has impressed me most about him is his work rate off the ball. With the South American players, it is sort of bred into them to work hard. He is no different to any of the other players like Suarez or Aguero, so we are grateful to have him in our team.”
West Brom’s Victor Anichebe on rebounding from Chelsea loss– “The Chelsea game was tough to take, they had a lot of opportunities in the game and we defended well. We had an early sending-off, the corner we conceded from was poor as well. But we’ve come into training this week, we’ve trained well and everyone’s trained hard. Chelsea are an unbelievable team, even when I was watching from the sidelines you could see how good they actually are. To lose to a team like that, you can’t really get down too much about it. We’re over that now. We’ve got important games coming and I think we’re ready for the hard period which is about to come.
Prediction
The Gunners will be dealing with the repercussions of injuries and the loss to Manchester United, as well as the rigors of a midweek UEFA Champions League match. Will that be enough to tip the scales in the favor of the home side? It’s hard to imagine Arsene Wenger, even under fire, won’t have a recipe to claim all three points, especially with Laurent Koscielny reportedly available for selection to help the defense. Gunners on the road, 3-1.