TheCable

Nigerian forward Alex Iwobi and his Arsenal teammates were on Saturday defeated 1-3 by West Brom at The Hawthorns.

Arsene Wenger’s woes continued as he watched his team’s top four hopes suffer a fresh blow after four straight losses.

It looked grim for Arsenal when the hosts took the lead through a Craig Dawson header in the 12th minute.

But the visitors replied three minutes later when Alexis Sanchez scored his 19th league goal of the season after latching on to a clever pass from Granit Xhaka in the 15th minute.

Shortly after the second half began, substitute Hal Robson-Kanu toe-poked West Brom back in front before Dawson, again, headed in a James McClean corner in the 77th minute.

Iwobi was subsequently brought on to replace Sanchez but he failed to provide the magic to rescue his side.

The defeat puts a big dent on Wenger’s impressive record of Champions League qualification and could harm his hopes of elongating his stay at the club.

As vociferous as they have been all week, fans of the north London club chanted “you don’t know what you are doing” when Sanchez was replaced.

West Brom’s only win in 13 previous competitive meetings with Arsenal came at The Hawthorns last season.

The Baggies have now earned consecutive top-flight home victories against the Gunners for the first time since a run of six victories from 1951 to 1956.