Arsenal and Sam Allardyce are bonded by a history from the mid-2000s when his Bolton Wanderers regularly bullied Arsène Wenger’s artists. He was the man who knew how to ruffle the side seen as soft southerners, and so a snowy night at The Hawthorns 15 years on provided the perfect setting for an upset. Yet Arsenal are a different prospect under Mikel Arteta, and here they put in a performance of grit and grace to swat aside Allardyce’s seemingly doomed West Bromwich Albion. For the first time this season, Arsenal won three consecutive league games and their dismal form of early December was consigned to 2020. They entered the new year with Kieran Tierney, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe again at the heart of

Source: The Times January 03, 2021 00:01 UTC