Arsenal:
                   Lehmann
          Lauren Toure Senderos Clichy
Ljungberg (Eboue 36) Cesc Flamini (Quincy 77) Pires
               Bergkamp Reyes

The corner came in from our right and Philippe Senderos jumped forward past his marker at the far post, to powerfully sidefooted the ball into the net.

A typical Arsenal passing move on the right involved Mathieu Flamini and Cesc, and ended with Freddie Ljungberg finding Dennis in space. His crafty chip was tipped over the bar by Kirkland in the Baggies goal.

But the home side started to come forward occasionally. One time, Pires found himself clearing the ball from near the goal-line, and hoofed it straight to Robinson in acres of space halfway inside our half. He blasted a shot in that only just missed Lehmann's top right hand corner. Ironic, having so often seen defenders try to play the ball out of defence when they should have hoofed it, to see a player with Pires's skills nearly give something away by hoofing when he didn't have to.

Even without the pace of Thierry Henry, and with Reyes having a quieter game than most so far this season, we were threatening with speed on the break. On one midway into the first half, Dennis managed to set Freddie up on the right, but he hit his low angled shot beyond the far post. Soon after, Pires hit a fine shot that forced another good save from Kirkland.

Then Cesc slid a pass forward for Freddie, who seemed to pull up in trying to reach it and got nowhere near. This seemed to confuse the defender beyond him who needlessly let the ball run on into the box where Bergkamp had made a run. But again Kirkland denied us.

Soon after this, Freddie had to go off. It was curious to see Emmanuel Eboue come on (I'd have expected Quincy in a like-for-like, or Alex Song to come into the middle with Cesc moving to the right).

Then just over 5 minutes before the break, a cross came over from their right wing. Senderos headed it away from right by the near post, but only to Kanu in space on that side of the box, and with plenty of time to shape himself and rifle a shot past Lehmann.

Right at the start of the second half Toure was unlucky not to put us ahead again. A corner came over from the right and, with the ball going behind him on the far side of the box, Kolo did really well to reach back with his right foot and divert a shot back across goal. But Kirkland did even better, getting the faintest of finger touches on the ball to send it wide.

Another break, and this time it was Reyes feeding Bergkamp with the final ball, but again it was Kirkland who got the better of us, coming out to save at Dennis's feet.

Cesc won a free kick outside the box which Reyes hit low round the wall, forcing Kirkland to dive to his right to save. Then Dennis teed up Fabregas for a shot which he got hold of really well, and again Kirkland made a fine save.

With a bit over 10 minutes to go, Eboue gave the ball away coming out of defence, passing it straight to Darren Carter. After a couple of passes on their left wing, Lauren managed to get a tackle in but was unlucky to see the ball go straight back to Carter, and this time he hit a terrific strike inside the top left hand corner, giving Lehmann no chance.

Arsenal pressed for an equaliser but Kirkland continued to be up to anything we could throw at him.

I said a few days ago that we weren't in a state of crisis, but that I may have to change that analysis if we lost to a West Brom side with 1 point from the last 18. Now, I'm not so sure. Yes it's a huge disappointment, but we didn't deserve to lose. Being outplayed by the Baggies might signal a crisis, but being mugged by them... well, these things happen. The depth of our squad is being tested at the moment, but we do have players coming back. It seems to me that we basically have one problem at the moment: finishing. With Henry out, the likes of Reyes, Bergkamp, and van Persie must start scoring, especially with Pires not quite on form and Ljungberg out injured.

What puzzles me, is that Lupoli and Bendtner aren't even being given a chance on the bench. We need someone to finish off our beautiful passing moves, why not try someone with a good record of such, and who's demonstrably on form? Both these players have been on fire for the reserves. I like Quincy, but he's being used as a winger, he's yet another player who'll help create chances. If the players we're using at the moment can't put the ball in the net then let's try someone else. At the very least it'll be a kick up the arse for the incumbents.