Arsenal win secures third place to leave Spurs sweating on final
WEST BROMWICH ALBION (2) vs ARSENAL (3)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (2) vs FULHAM (0)
EVERTON (3) vs NEWCASTLE (1)
ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger hopes the lure of Champions League football will be enough to keep captain Robin van Persie after their nervy victory at West Brom secured third place in the Premier League.
Goals from Andre Santos and Laurent Koscielny sealed the crucial win and third place to spoil Roy Hodgson’s last game with West Brom, before he begins the England job, after the home side had led with just 15 minutes gone.
Anything less than three points would have been insufficient for Wenger’s side after rivals Tottenham, who finished fourth, just a point behind Arsenal, beat Fulham 2-0 in their pursuit of the top three. Despite also reaching the top four, Spurs may yet miss out on Champions League qualification if Chelsea win the final in Munich, Germany, on 19 May, which manager Harry Redknapp will attend.
“Will Champions League football help to keep Van Persie?,” said Wenger. “It makes it easier to attract good players and keep them. The intention is to speak with him before he leaves for the Dutch camp [for Euro 2012].”
Whether Spurs and England midfielder Scott Parker can reach the same tournament is equally uncertain, after Redknapp admitted his fitness is dependent upon the outcome of an injection on his injured Achilles. He said: “He’s [Parker] going to have an injection and they’re hoping it could clear up. “If it doesn’t then he wouldn’t be fit [for Euro 2012].
Yossi Benayoun’s fourth-minute goal, tapped into an empty net after Martin Fulop’s hesitancy, had given Arsenal a great start but failed to settle their inevitable nerves. Just eight minutes had passed when Shane Long equalised, albeit from an offside position, after going on-one-on with goalkeeper Wojciech Sczczesny. Three minutes after that Graham Dorrans put West Brom in front with a finish from the edge of the area, though Santos equalised with a low drilled effort just before the half-hour mark, before Koscielny capitalised on another Fulop error at a corner to score a 54th-minute winner.
Spurs’ win, in contrast, was the result of far less uncertainty. They led after just 90 seconds when on-loan striker Emanuel Adebayor – who Redknapp hopes to keep – latched onto Rafael van der Vaart’s through-ball to calmly place the ball past Mark Schwarzer, and the result was secure when, after dominating possession, substitute Jermain Defoe pounced on Aaron Lennon’s deflected cross in the 63rd minute to finish into the bottom left corner.
Vying with Spurs for fourth were Newcastle, though defeat away to Everton left them four points behind and in fifth place, from where they will enter next season’s Europa League. Goals from Steven Pienaar, Nikica Jelavic and John Heitinga meant a late own goal from Tony Hibbert was little more than a consolation for Newcastle’s efforts.
West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster, meanwhile, has rejected Hodgson’s plea to return from international retirement to be part of England’s squad, to be named Wednesday, for the European Championship.