Arsenal go into their Boxing Day fixture against Tony Pulis’ West Bromich Albion in somewhat mixed form having lost both of the previous league games by a score of 2-1 against Everton and Manchester City. The two losses came after them winning the past 3 games by a combined score of 12-3 where they pretty much detroyed West Ham, Basel and Stoke City. Thet also had gone 14 game unbeaten in the Premier League after losing their opening fixture so the 2 losses were a big surprise and a big disappointment and they have left them sitting a very distant looking 9 points behind Chelsea at Christmas. From things looking quite positive 2 weeks ago now as the busy festive season hits us Arsenal are not looking so good all of a sudden.

Fot this fixture Arsenal do have recent history very much on their side as they have lost just 1 of their last 11 Premier League games against the Baggies as they have won 8 of them while drawing 2. The Baggies have only ever won once away vs Arsenal in the Premier League and it was back in September 2010, when the midlands outfit came out eventual winners in a back-and-forth game by a 3-2 scoreline at the Emirates. The last time the two sides played on a Boxing day it was back in 2002 and Arsenal came back from a goal down to eventually win 2-1. Arsenal as we know sit in 4th in the Premier League but West Brom come into the match in the second best ever Christmas position as they are currently in 8th position with 23 points and have a positive goal difference of +2 which may not sound like much but the Baggies rarely have a positive goal difference so they are definitely playing well this year.

The key players for Arsenal will be the usual suspects in top scorer Alexis Sanchez who has already had a hand in 18 goals in 17 Premier League appearances for Arsenal this season (12 goals, 6 assists) and of course the irrepressable Mesut Ozil but perhaps Arsene Wenger should give the impressive Lucas Perez a Premier League start as his form is deserving and it would give West Brom something else to think about. For the Baggies the key players will be the physically imposing Venezuelan Salomon Rondon plus the always dangerous Chris Brunt and the improving James McClean.

So we think this game is gonna be a relatively nip-and-tuck affair as Arsenal will likely have the more possession with West Brom looking to hit them on the break. Although the Baggies have won 2 games in December already we don’t think this will be their 3rd win of the month and we see a 3-1 win for Arsenal as the Gunners will be determined to get back to winning ways knowing that a loss could really put them too far back too early in the Premier League season.