Not the best Arsenal performance ever, but these days it comes as no surprise when Wengers team take their foot off the gas when the game's won. At the start of a long season, who can blame them for not risking unnecessary tiredness or injury?

Of course, we weren't saying that when we dropped all those points at home in the first half of last season! And if West Brom had been able to score without Arsenal's help, I might not have been saying it now.

Ashley Cole got the first within 5 minutes of the start, latching onto a through ball down the left and beating a defender on the corner of the box before whacking his shot high past the keeper.

Lauren made it a full-back double on 20 minutes. Having started the move on the right wing, he got forward to receive Kanu's cross in the middle of the box. He just managed to stop the ball going past him, and set it up for a blast into the roof of the net.

Wiltord was given far too much space on the right 4 minutes later, and despite his first touch from the cross-field pass taking the ball closer to the keeper than he'd have liked he managed to get there first to chip over the approaching keeper.

West Brom had spurned a few chances, giving us a dangerous sense of security. But 5 minutes into the second half we gifted them a chance too easy to miss. Cole misread a hopeful punt forward, and Seaman had came out towards it so that when it came square off Ashley Albion's Dobie had an empty net in front of him.

Cole made amends by supplying Wiltord with the cross for Arsenal's 4th with 10 minutes to go, only for Roberts to accept another gift 2 minutes before the end. But just a minute later Aliadiere was on hand to score from point blank range, Henry having rifled a low cross from deep on the right.

With Bergkamp missing through injury we started with Kanu partnering Henry in front of a midfield of Vieira, Wiltord, and the 2 Brasilians. Parlour Toure and Aliadiere all came off the bench in the second half. The substitutions seemed to help us over a panicky period when a better opposition would have scored one or two more.