West Brom 2 - 1 Arsenal

Arsenal were beaten at the Hawthorns by a Darren Carter wonder goal. Chris Kirkland (Left) however, was the star of the show. Kirkland produced countless saves to thwart Arsenal who were dominant in almost every department, as for the second game in a row Arsenal came up against a goalkeeper in form.

Philippe Senderos volleyed in Jose Reyes' 17th minute corner to give Arsenal the lead. It looked as though that would settle Arsenal's youngsters and give them a platform to go on and win the game as they had a more than healthy amount of possession and looked like the dominant side.

Ljungberg was replaced due to injury on 37 minutes and it didn't take West Brom long to capitalise. It was somewhat against the run of play that Kanu, the idiosyncratic Nigerian ex-Arsenal player, equalized with an unusually very well taken goal. Kanu pounced on an error from Senderos, his headed half- clearance found Kanu and he duly netted his first goal in 18 months, from then on it was clear that it would not be Arsenal's day.

Arsenal continued to press and created several good scoring opportunities, but Kirkland was equal to everything that Arsenal threw at him, on another day Arsenal would have won this game easily. It was West Brom who did exactly that though as Darren Carter smashed home what in truth was an excellent goal from all of 25 yards on 75 minutes.

Arsenal have a problem scoring from open play at the moment. Reyes badly needed a goal but didn't get one. Hence the fact that Arsenal's second and third top goal scorers are centre backs. Kirkland played well, yes, however a lot of the shots were at a nice height. He made several good saves and one excellent save but none were world class. Arsenal were not clinical enough and ultimately punished for that.

The truth is Arsenal lost this game due to a combination of profligancy in front of goal, a lack of ability to find the net without Thierry Henry, bad luck and a memorable goalkeeping display.

It is a little mellow dramatic to say Arsenal are finished, that Tottenham are the best side in north London and that we have nothing to play for. We still play the best football in the league and this display wasn't the worst and we have won games not playing as well. The cream always rises to the top a very good friend of mine said to me and he summed it up perfectly. Arsenal will win the title again. We have a new stadium which will make us the most profitable club in the world, our long term future is secure. No need to panic.

The good news for us is that the league is and always was done and dusted. That'll give our younger players the chance to play without as much pressure and allow them to develop their potentials. With any luck, this time next year, at Ashburton Grove we'll have grown a team to befit what should be a world class stadium, what's more important we'll have done it the right way.

Roll on the Champions League..