Marton Fulop endured a
nightmare Premier League debut for West Bromwich Albion as Arsenal
wrapped up third spot and automatic UEFA Champions League qualification
after a 3-2 win at The Hawthorns.
In Roy Hodgson's final game as West Brom
manager before he takes charge of England, Fulop gifted Arsenal their early opener and a second-half winner to ensure Arsenal held off the challenge of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
A
comical gaffe from Fulop gifted Arsenal the lead after just four
minutes when the goalkeeper, making his first Premier League appearance
of the season in the absence of the injured Ben Foster, hesitated on the
edge of the box and Yossi Benayoun nipped in to roll the ball into an
empty net.
Yet by the quarter-hour mark, West Brom were in front,
although there was a suspicion of offside about the equaliser on 11
minutes when Shane Long raced on to James Morrison's pass to slip the
ball past Wojciech Szczesny.
Morrison
was the provider for the Baggies' second goal four minutes later as his
pass was cushioned under control by the head of Graham Dorrans and the
Scot then rifled home from the edge of the box.
Arsenal were level
on the half-hour mark and were indebted to more questionable
goalkeeping from Fulop, who was unable to get a strong enough hand to
Andre Santos' left- foot shot from outside the box.
Fulop, who joined West Brom from Ipswich Town
last summer, was at it again nine minutes into the second half when he
bizarrely elected to punch, rather than catch, an uncontested corner and
the ball dropped sideways for Laurent Koscielny to bundle home.
The
Baggies had a couple of half-chances to equalise, but Arsenal saw out
the closing stages before paying a full-time tribute to assistant
manager Pat Rice, who is ending his 44-year association with the club.
Mistake
Arsenal were the first to settle and a mistake by Fulop gifted Benayoun the opening goal after four minutes.
Robin van Persie
and James Morrison challenged for the ball in midfield and the ball
ricocheted into the path of Fulop. But he appeared to stumble when under
no pressure and Benayoun was left with the simplest of tasks to knock
the ball into an empty net.
Albion retaliated and Szczesny
produced a fine low save to keep out a shot on the turn from a narrow
angle by Marc-Antoine Fortune.
But after 11 minutes the fit-again
Long brought the Baggies on level terms. He chased down a pass from
Morrison and hammered a low shot past Szczesny into the corner of the
net.
Just four minutes later an equally clinical finish from
Dorrans put the Baggies in front. Morrison was again the creator and
Dorrans gave Szczesny no chance of saving with a similar finish to that
of Long.
Gareth McAuley blocked an effort from Benayoun inside the
box and a Van Persie free-kick hit the defensive wall, but after half
an hour Santos brought the Gunners level.
Fulop got a hand to his swerving left-footed drive from 20 yards out but could only parry it into the corner of the net.
Play
was moving from end to end and Van Persie became the first player to be
booked seven minutes before half-time for a touchline challenge on
McAuley.
Reshuffle
Wenger brought on Theo Walcott
in place of Tomas Rosicky for the second half, with the visitors
starting the period on the offensive and a cross-shot from Santos was
only just off target.
Albion were forced to reshuffle after 51
minutes when the impressive Morrison limped out of the action to be
replaced by Keith Andrews.
Fulop's horror show continued when another mistake gifted Koscielny a goal after 54 minutes to restore Arsenal's lead.
The former Sunderland goalkeeper punched a corner from Van Persie back towards his own goal and Koscielny made no mistake from four yards out.
Albion
tried to recover and a Jonas Olsson header was deflected over his own
bar by Van Persie before Szczesny reacted quickly to turn aside a shot
on the turn from Andrews.
In injury-time substitute Kieran Gibbs produced a vital block on Billy Jones' shot after he burst into the box.
Source : SkySport.com 
