A tense game at the Hawthorns ended with Arsenal keeping their one goal lead to keep Champions League hopes alive. Sounds familiar? The 3 points are exactly what Arsenal needed in order to keep the pressure on Spurs and Chelsea, entering the top 4 for the first time this season.

Lukasz Fabianski - 7 - Solid performance, got something on the penalty, but the shot was so poor he wouldn’t have been expecting to use his legs. One or two slightly heart-in-mouth moments, but nothing major. No amazing saves, but did exactly what was needed.

Nacho Monreal - 7 - Better than Santos. This was another game in which Monreal showed why Wenger chose to sign him. Going forwards he still has a bit of work to do, with none of his crosses or long balls going to an Arsenal shirt. However, with the most interceptions of any player (4), along with the second most effective clearances

Per Mertesacker - 5 - Red card was stupid, he was slow to get in that position, then never going to win the challenge. Before that, he had a reasonable game, keeping them at bay for a while. Red card overshadows positive aspects of the performance.

Laurent Koscielny - 7 - Fully confident performance, knowing when to step up, catching the opposition offside 3 times (most on the pitch), knowing when to clear the ball, 5 times, (most on the pitch). Did everything he needed to do, and most importantly, he didn’t screw it all up at the end when it was looking incredibly tight.

Bacary Sagna - 6 - Not looking as good as he has done in previous seasons. Every cross he attempted failed, but had 3 interceptions, which was second most on the pitch. He was not given any flexibility to get forward after the penalty. Defended well enough, but it was hard to see how he would have been better than Jenkinson in this game.

Aaron Ramsey - 7 - Should have scored. Once you get over that miss, he had a solid game, providing Rosicky with the assist for his second. Held kept the ball well and gave everything he had, as usual. His first half booking left me feeling like he could give another away at any moment, thankfully, he kept his cool.

Santi Cazorla - 7 - Seemingly anonymous game but was still pulling the strings with 31 passes in the final third (more than any other payer), including 2 key passes. Even not at his best he is a formidable player.

Mikel Arteta - 6 - Highest passing accuracy of any Arsenal player, at 88%. Solid performance as always.

Tomas Rosicky - 9 - Brilliant. One of the best performances “little Mozart” has had in a while. A clearance off the line at the back post was soon followed up by the goal with great reactions to get on the end of a Gervinho shot cross. Not much more you could ask for in a 5 minute period.

He was first to get there after his shot was parried by Foster, to claim his first ever brace for Arsenal. Similar to last season, at his best when it counts.

Gervinho - 7 - Shows why he has been picked ahead of Podolski yet again, took on defender well to get another assist for Rosicky’s first (even if it was a shot). Always looks at his best taking on players, fully making the most of the confidence that he is experiencing at the moment.

Olivier Giroud - 6 - Set up Ramsey well for the chance that he squandered, but apart from that did quite little. He won the most arial duals on the pitch (along with Sagna), but did very little with the ball once he won it, with a passing accuracy of just 55%. That was the lowest on the pitch. He also lost the ball more than anyone else on the pitch (5 times).

Subs

Thomas Vermaelen - 6 - Not the way the captain would have wanted to come back into the game. None of his three passes found their man, being far more concerned with getting the ball out of the area. A competent performance

Gibbs and Coquelin did not play long enough to get a rating.

Per Mertesacker’s mistake did not end up being that costly for the team, Thomas Vermaelen will be eager to get some game time and try to ensure his name in starting line-up for the run in.

With 7 games left to play, Arsenal will be looking to build on this and keep up the momentum

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