Ten-man Arsenal withstood a West Bromwich Albion battering to claim a 2-1 Premier League win despite Per Mertesacker's red card.
Arsenal's Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky (second right) celebrates after scoring the opening Arsental goal in the English Premier League football victory over West Bromwich Albion. (Reuters photo)
Tomas Rosicky was Arsenal's hero - his two goals were more than he had scored in his previous 65 league games, while he also produced a goalline clearance.
But what looked like a comfortable win was thrown into jeopardy when Mertesacker clumsily brought Shane Long down on 70 minutes.
Howard Webb sent the German off and James Morrison converted the resultant penalty.
West Bromwich squandered several good chances to take at least a point in the frantic final stages, with Romelu Lukaku and Shane Long both guilty of bad misses.
The win moves Arsenal into fourth place ahead of Chelsea, who play their game in hand against Sunderland on Sunday.
In other Premier League matches:
- An incredible late goal from Matthew Lowton set Aston Villa on course for a 3-1 win which dragged Stoke into the relegation mire.
- Luke Moore scored a late equaliser to end Swansea’s run of Premier League defeats with an entertaining 2-2 draw at Norwich.
- Nigel Adkins’s first home game as Reading manager ended in defeat as Southampton cruised to a 2-0 win at the Madejski Stadium.