West Brom 2 Arsenal 1 - Report and pictures
Two first-half goals in the space of five minutes gave West Brom a much-needed home victory over an injury-ravaged Arsenal side.
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But the match will be remembered for Santi Cazorla's missed penalty eight minutes from time.
Olivier Giroud nodded the visitors in front from a Mesut Ozil free-kick in the 28th minute before James Morrison equalised seven minutes later with a volley from a Chris Brunt set-piece.
Five minutes after that a Mikel Arteta own goal gave Albion the lead, one the home side refused to relinquish for the remainer of the game.
ALBION (4-2-3-1): Myhill, Brunt, Olsson, Evans, Dawson, Yacob, Fletcher (c), McClean, Morrison, Sessegnon, Rondon.
Subs: Lindegaard (gk), Chester, Gardner, Anichebe, Lambert, Berahino, McManaman.
ARSENAL: (4-2-3-1): Cech, Monreal, Koscielny, Mertesacker (c), Bellerin, Cazorla, Coquelin, Gibbs, Ozil, Sanchez, Giroud.
Subs: Ospina (gk), Debuchy, Gabriel, Arteta, Flamini, Campbell, Reine-Adelaide.Att: 24,343[/breakout]
But in the 82nd minute Chris Brunt appeared to have handed the Gunners an equaliser when he pushed Alexis Sanchez to the floor.
Cazorla stepped up to the spot kick but slipped as he took it, spooning the ball over the bar.
Despite a late Arsenal onslaught, Albion held out for only their third win over the Gunners since 1984.
Tony Pulis' side may have had just one shot on target all game but this was a determined performance against a team that would have gone top if they'd won.
Gareth McAuley's suspension for his red card at Old Trafford forced Albion boss Tony Pulis to make one change from the team he played in Manchester.
Instead of giving £8million summer signing James Chester a chance at centre-back, the head coach started 6ft 5in Swede Jonas Olsson to combat Olivier Giroud's presence in the box.
Saido Berahino started on the bench for the second successive game.
Ravaged by injuries in the midfield, Arsene Wenger put Kieran Gibbs on the left wing. Right-back Hector Bellerin recovered in time to start.
The first time James McClean got on the ball he was booed by the Arsenal fans, but the Irish winger ignored the jeers.
He beat both Alexis Sanchez and Bellerin on the left before whipping a dangerous ball across the box which no Albion player could get on the end of.
Wenger's midfield injury problems worsened as early as the 14th minute when Francis Coquelin injured himself tackling Claudio Yacob.
Arsenal brought Mikel Arteta on in his place just before Sanchez bent a free-kick over the Albion wall and, on target, but goalkeeper Boaz Myhill scampered across his goal-line and clung onto the effort.
The hosts had showed potential in the opening exchanges but were giving away too many free-kicks around the box.
With Mesut Ozil the assist-king on the pitch that's a dangerous game to play, and when James Morrison clipped Sanchez in the 28th minute it proved so.
Ozil stepped up and floated an inch-perfect ball into the box which Giroud, running off the back of Jonny Evans, gleefully glanced home from six yards out.
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But Albion have their own left-footed free-kick master and, seven minutes later, Chris Brunt came to the fore.
On a day he was presented a signed shirt for reaching 300 appearances for the club, Brunt floated in a set-piece from deep which James Morrison managed to guide over Cech and into the far corner.
Four minutes later, Albion were leading. Salomon Rondon's stabbed through-ball to the underlapping McClean, looked too pacy but the winger just about reached the pass.
His pull-back from the byline was turned into his own net by Arteta, sending The Hawthorns into delirium.
Arsenal were bound to come out guns blazing in the second-half and, in the opening two minutes, they had a penalty shout when Olsson wrestled Giroud to the floor and then Ozil hit the post.
Sanchez was causing all sorts of problems in the Albion box.
And, 10 minutes into the half only a superb block from Craig Dawson stopped Gibbs from scoring after the Chilean had drawn in three men and laid off the Arsenal winger.
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The Gunners were leaving men forward, inviting Albion to attack.
Rondon fired a bouncing ball over before McClean nearly caught the Arsenal defence napping when neither Cech nor defence claimed a high ball back into the box.
The majority of the football was being played in the Albion half so Pulis brought Gardner on for Sessegnon around the hour mark to shore things up.
Wenger brought Joel Campbell on for Gibbs and the substitute's first real impact was to miss a sitter from four yards out after McClean had slipped on the turf.
Albion thought they'd scored in the 72nd minute when Olsson's header from a Brunt corner hit the crossbar and bounced on the line.
Mark Clattenburg blew his whistle but as the crowd waited for what seemed like an age, the referee gave offside inside of a goal.
Eight minutes from time the referee seemed to have given Arsenal a goal, awarding a penalty to the visitors for a Brunt push on Sanchez.
What followed was a moment of pure drama as Cazorla's standing leg slipped just at the wrong moment, allowing the Baggies to take all three points.
