West Brom vs Arsenal: Baggies pose huge threat, says Wenger

A Tony Pulis side is usually miserly in defence, yet they’ve been porous at The Hawthorns this season – conceding three goals on four different occasions.

Arsenal get back to Premier League action after the global break with a trip to the Hawthorne’s on Saturday to take on West Bromwich Albion.

Pulis will likely to look to set up his team in the same manner he often did with his Stoke outfits when they took on the Gunners, meaning the emphasis will be on Rondon to make himself as much of a nuisance as possible in the middle. “On top of that they are in a hard situation a little bit in the Premier League”.

He said: “Everyone’s fit, everyone’s raring to go and everyone’s looking forward to the game”.

“I would even say that you don’t even look at the table anymore because you know what you get”, Wenger said. “The difference between the teams has narrowed and it is more about how close to your best you are that will decide the result than the team you play against”.

Meanwhile, Theo Walcott (calf), Tomas Rosicky (knee), Jack Wilshere (ankle) and Danny Welbeck (knee) remain out.

“Hector Bellerin is back, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey are not available”.

By stark contrast to West Brom’s home form, Arsenal boast the best away record in the league with five wins out of six on the road.

Pulis added: “I think winning trophies like the FA Cup has given this bunch of players a smell of winning and once you get that, you can often kick on”. Bellerin’s return is a major boost and I’d expect Mathieu Debuchy to drop back to the bench this weekend after the Frenchman deputised during the last two games.

The rested Rondon played 90 minutes against the Ecuadorians on Tuesday, and although he was part of a side that suffered a 3-1 defeat, he’ll head back to West Bromwich with a lot more air in his lungs than he would have had he played in La Paz.

West Brom have registered just two wins in their 18 Premier League meetings with Arsenal (D3 L13), and are without a win against the Gunners in the last nine top-flight clashes. – West Brom has averaged 0.5 points per game against Arsenal in the Premier League, its joint-lowest return against any side the club has met more than twice.