West Brom 0-4 Arsenal, Player Ratings: Tierney shines

10:51pm on Saturday 2nd January 2021
By Stefan Bienkowski

Arsenal moved up to eleventh place in the Premier League table with a comfortable 4-0 win over West Brom on Saturday evening.

In a match dogged by heavy snowfall throughout, Mikel Arteta’s side put on a professional display to pick up only their seventh league victory of the season.

So who were the standout performers?

West Brom 0-4 Arsenal: Player Ratings, Match Stats, Player Stats

✔️ GOOD PERFORMANCE

Rob Holding: 8.0

In a match that was undoubtedly defined by Arsenal’s impressive attacking intent in the snow at West Brom, Rob Holding was unquestionably the underrated defensive performer that ensured all three points.

Along with providing the assist for Arsenal’s opening goal, Holding also ensured Arsenal kept a clean sheet with six recoveries, five clearances and two interceptions.

Add to that a match-leading amount of successful long balls and an 82 percent pass accuracy and you have a defender that knew how to keep the ball out of his own net and begin moves that made sure it ended up in the other.

Alexandre Lacazette: 9.1

There’s no doubt that Arsenal’s impressive turn in form and new-found ability to pick up results has coincided with their main striker returning to the kind of goal scoring that made him an Arsenal player in the first place.

Prior to Saturday’s game, Alexandre Lacazette had scored in each of Arsenal’s last three games and as such he went one better at the Hawthorns and managed to bag two to ensure an impressive performance for his side.

The first goal came just after the hour mark when a series of errors from the West Brom defence led to the ball landing at the feet of the Frenchman directly in front of goal. Naturally, the 29-year-old striker didn’t waste any time in tucking the ball into the back of the net.

The second goal came just three minutes later when Tierney bombed down the left flank, looked up on the byline and fired a ball towards a completely unmarked Lacazette just a few yards in front of the Arsenal goal.

Two poachers goals that showed that Lacazette had regained his decisive and clinical finishing for Arsenal.

⭐ STAR MAN

Kieran Tierney: 9.4

On a cold, snowy night at the Hawthorns there was little doubt from the very first whistle that Arsenal would need to do something special to break through a stubborn West Brom defence.

Fortunately for Arteta’s side that moment of ingenuity and genuine class came in the form of Kieran Tierney, when the left-back took it upon himself to single-handedly put his hosts to the sword.

In the 23rd minute the former Celtic defender received the ball on the left flank, waited for Darnell Furlong to approach him and then took off with blistering speed cutting by the West Brom defender not once but twice, before jinking inside and curling the ball into the far corner with his weaker foot.

It was a goal the consistent and dependable defender undoubtedly deserved and complimented the kind of strong, defensive performance that Tierney has become known for in the Premier League.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the left-back then popped up in the second half to fire a ball towards Lacazette to fire home Arsenal’s fourth on the night. A leading performance from the Scotland international.

West Brom 0-4 Arsenal: Player Ratings, Match Stats, Player Stats