Arsenal secured a comfortable 2-0 victory against West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday. This win powered the Gunners to the third spot in the English Premier League (EPL) table, two points ahead of Manchester City.
Alexis Sanchez stepped up to the occasion and stole the show with his brace against West Brom on Thursday. The Chilean led Arsenal to their 500th Premier League victory.
Aaron Ramsey along with Olivier Giroud and Per Mertesacker combined to feed Sanchez, who took a shot from just outside the box and found the back of the net in the sixth minute of the game.
Gareth McAuley hit the woodwork and that was the only time when West Brom came close to scoring.
Sanchez scored again in the 38th minute of the game from a free-kick to increase the lead. Arsenal kept on pressing in the second half of the game as well. Sanchez found Mesut Ozil with his through ball but the German international's shot was denied by Ben Foster, or else it could have been 3-0.
"I believe we dominated from the start to the last minute, in fact what we did against Crystal Palace. Overall I believe the quality of our game was very good. Maybe, we could have scored more goals. That is the only thing you could say tonight. We didn't concede and couldn't finish the game off the way we wanted," Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger was quoted as saying by the official website of the club.
Meanwhile, West Brom's woeful run continued as they succumbed to yet another defeat. Tony Pulis' side have managed only a solitary point from the their last five games and they are in the 15th place in the EPL points table currently.
Pulis admitted that Arsenal were a better side and they deserved to win against them. The Baggies will have to do a lot better to avoid slipping down further in the points table as they will not want to get relegated.
"I can have no complaints about the result. Arsenal were the better side throughout the game. And I'm not going to criticise the players either - they've done very well for me this season. We've played well at times this season but today we looked leggy, off the pace. And when we come to the better teams everyone has to be on it and we simply weren't," Pulis was quoted as saying by the official website of the club.
Watch the highlights and the goals here: