Arsenal scored two first-half goals courtesy of Emil Smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe strike as West Bromwich Albion were confined to the relegation spot in the Premier League.
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Arsenal beat West Bromwich Albion 3-1 to confirm the relegation of the Baggies in the Premier League. Arsenal scored two goals in the first half courtesy of Emil Smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe. West Brom got one back in the second half through Matheus Pereira. But, Arsenal sealed the three points with a late free-kick goal by Willian. The defeat left Sam Allardyce’s side 10 points behind 17th placed Burnley with just three games remaining.
Emil Rowe scored with a first time deft volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross just before the half hour mark. Nicolas Pepe extended the lead in the 35th minute. The Ivory Coast international cut inside and fired in a  left-footed shot from just inside the penalty box into the top right corner of West Brom goal.
Pereira pulled one back for the away side in the 69th minute. He collected the ball on the halfway mark and surged forward before slotting the ball past Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno’s reach. Former Chelsea man Willian made the score 3-0 towards the end of regulation time with a beautiful free-kick goal.
West Brom started the game brightly, but Arsenal slowly got into the game and were more clinical up front. West Brom manager Sam Allardyce has been relegated into the Championship for the first time in his 17-year managerial career in the Premier League.
“It’s not sunk in yet, but I’m sure I’ll wake up tomorrow and realize the situation,” Allardyce told BT Sport. “I’m bitterly disappointed we’re not still in the fight. I’m not saying we would have avoided relegation but we should have been closer, we should have taken it down to the last three games, based on how we performed. The creating of chances has been there but the converting has not.
“We had [enough] time to pull it round. Our real problem was not beating the bottom-six sides when we came up against them. The results against Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City should have been bonus points.”
West Brom are in the 19th spot with 26 points from 35 games. It was their second defeat in last four matches. They will next play Liverpool, West Ham and Leeds United in their remaining fixtures.
Arsenal, on the other hand, shrugged off their Europa League semifinals defeat to Villareal. Arsenal are 9th in the points table with 52 points from 35 games, 11 points adrift the top four. The Gunners won’t be playing in Europe next season.
