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Alan Irvine: 'Arsenal are vulnerable'

Alan Irvine hopes that West Brom can be the latest team to capitalise on Arsenal's attacking philosophy ahead of facing the Gunners at The Hawthorns.

Alan Irvine has told his West Bromwich Albion team that Arsenal are there for the taking ahead of this afternoon's clash at The Hawthorns.

The Gunners lost 2-1 to Manchester United last weekend in a result that confirmed their worst start to a league season for 32 years.

Arsene Wenger's tactics have been called into question in recent weeks, and Irvine hopes that the Baggies can be the latest team to use the Frenchman's attacking philosophy against him.

"They play in such an open and expansive way," he told reporters. "They get so many players forward. On the one hand that gives you a huge problem dealing with all those players because I can give you video clip after video clip where they have eight players in the final third.

"That only leaves three [in deeper positions] and one of them is a goalkeeper, so straight away you can see the difficulties they've got and how you can break out and hurt them.

"But you've got to stop them first and Arsene's philosophy has been, 'we attack and in order to be effective we have to commit a lot of players forward'. What's a strength for Arsenal can also be a weakness but you've got to get the ball first and stop them from doing what they're so good at, which is opening teams up."

Kickoff in the West Midlands is scheduled for 12.45pm, with Arsenal eighth in the table, five places above Irvine and co.

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Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger looks dejected during the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield on February 8, 2014
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal34245582265677
2Liverpool34228475344174
3Manchester CityMan City32227376324473
4Aston Villa34206871502166
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs32186865491660
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd33165125150153
7Newcastle UnitedNewcastle331551369541550
8West Ham UnitedWest Ham34139125463-948
9Chelsea32138116157447
10Bournemouth34129134960-1145
11Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton321111105250244
12Wolverhampton WanderersWolves34127154654-843
13Fulham34126165054-442
14Crystal Palace34109154456-1239
15Brentford3498175259-735
16Everton34118153648-1233
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3479184260-1826
18Luton TownLuton3467214775-2825
19Burnley3458213769-3223
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd3437243392-5916


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