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I'm pretty much non-religious, but days like today make me wonder if I'm wrong, and there is a god or gods, and he/she/they decided at some point to just mess with Arsenal as much as possible. Arsenal lost to West Brom at the Hawthorns for the first time in over a decade by a score of 2-1, and for Arsenal it was a Murphy's Law cavalcade of despair. Let's take a look at some of the things that went wrong today:
- After fifteen minutes, Francis Coquelin injured himself trying to make a sliding challenge on a 50/50 ball, and had to leave the game.
- Mikel Arteta, who replaced Coquelin, committed a contentious foul and then on the resulting free kick, he and Hector Bellerin both lost their man and allowed what was at the time an equalizing goal.
- Not long thereafter, a Mesut Özil giveaway and a Bellerin tackle missed led to a cross into the box, which Petr Čech also missed. It hit Arteta in the hand and went in for an own goal.
- About two minutes into the second half, Arteta suffered a calf injury and had to leave for a substitute of his own.
- Joel Campbell (who came on with Arsenal chasing) somehow managed to miss the goal entirely from point-blank range, after his defender slipped in the box leaving him totally unmarked and onside.
- Santi Cazorla slipped taking a penalty earned late by Alexis Sanchez, and skied the shot over the bar entirely.
So yeah, overall that was not a very fun experience. We'll have to wait and see to know what exactly the fallout will be, as it depends on how long Coquelin and Arteta will be out. But even if they both miraculously are healed by midweek, this was a catastrophe.