Preview: West Bromwich Albion vs. Arsenal

Arsenal visit West Bromwich Albion on Saturday in the midst of their worst start to a league season in 32 years.

A home defeat to old rivals Manchester United last weekend left the Gunners eighth in the Premier League table and 15 points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

It also left many questioning whether Arsene Wenger was the right man to return them to a genuine force.

The Frenchman's 18 years in charge have yielded eight major trophies, but only one has come in the second half of his reign - the 2013-14 FA Cup triumph over Hull City.

Jurgen Klopp has been touted by many as the man to bring the glory days back to Arsenal, but Wenger got one over on his heir apparent when the Gunners beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on Wednesday.

That result guaranteed Arsenal's progress into the last 16 of the Champions League for the 15th season in succession, and perhaps gave Wenger some wiggle room in regards to their stuttering domestic form.

The victory came at a cost, though, with captain Mikel Arteta and surprise scorer Yaya Sanogo both picking up injuries to join Jack Wilshere, who will miss three months with another ankle setback, on the sidelines.

As well as Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Debuchy, goalkeepers Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina also remain unavailable and so third-choice stopper Emiliano Martinez will start again at The Hawthorns.

Better fitness news concerns Laurent Koscielny, who resumed training this week and could be rushed back for a first appearance since October 5 due to Arsenal's shortage of quality defensive options.

Olivier Giroud made a scoring return from a three-month layoff with a broken leg against United, but he will slowly be eased back into action as Danny Welbeck continues to do a good job leading the line.

With Wilshere and Arteta missing, there are places to be had in midfield and so both Mathieu Flamini and Santi Cazorla could be recalled. Theo Walcott will probably be named among the substitutes.

West Brom's Saido Berahino is only one behind Arsenal top scorer Alexis Sanchez in the Premier League goal charts, but made headlines for the wrong reasons when he was arrested for drunk driving this week.

There is no indication that this incident will prevent the seven-goal striker from featuring for the Baggies, and he could be joined up top by Victor Anichebe, who often tormented Arsenal in his Everton days.

Elsewhere, Alan Irvine could make two further alterations, with Claudio Yacob suspended and Chris Baird not likely to continue at full-back after struggling in the 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

Cristian Gamboa is in contention to come into a defence which is the second best in the bottom half of the table, but is still missing Sebastien Pocognoli and Jonas Olsson, who requires Achilles surgery.

After shaking off both injury and illness, James Morrison should return to replace Yacob in midfield as 13th-placed Albion go in search of a first win against the Gunners in nine games in all competitions.

West Brom:

Form in Premier League: LDDWLL Form in all competitions: DDLWLL

Possible starting lineup: Foster; Wisdom, Dawson, Lescott, Gamboa; Dorrans, Morrison, Gardner, Brunt; Berahino, Anichebe

Arsenal:

Form in Premier League: LDWWLL Form in all competitions: WWDLLW

Possible starting lineup: Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Flamini, Ramsey; Sanchez, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Welbeck

Sports Mole says: 1-1