"?Olivier Giroud marked his first Premier League start of the season by scoring a late winner, as Arsenal overcame a typically spirited West Brom side to keep their faint title hopes alive.
The Gunners dominated possession for much of the match but having wasted a number of chances in the second half, they appeared set to drop yet more points until their number 12 placed a looping header into the Baggies net.
Arsene Wenger was forced to make two changes to his side as both Kieron Gibbs and Olivier Giroud came into the team in place of Nacho Monreal and the injured Theo Walcott. The Baggies meanwhile welcomed back Jonny Evans who was able to shake off a calf problem; he came into replace Jonas Olsson.
Arsenal lacked imagination for much of the first half and struggled to breakdown a predictably organised Baggies defence. Granit Xhaka had a couple of wild long range attempts whilst Giroud was denied by a last ditch block from Evans
As the home crowd started to become increasingly irate with their team's insipid performance, the first effort on target finally arrived in the 32nd minute when Alexis Sanchez shot was palmed away by Ben Foster.
Alex Iwobi then tried his luck with a close range chip, but saw the ball drift over Foster's crossbar as the Gunners failed to make the Baggies' goalkeeper work for the rest of the half and but for some last ditch blocks, Tony Pulis' side were fairly comfortable at the interval.
It's only been 45 minutes but with Arsenal drawing 0-0 at home to West Brom, I am already excited for this... #ARSWBA pic.twitter.com/pPc9PBi58P
The game finally burst into life moments into the second half when Foster had to dive bravely at the feet of Sanchez having spilt Iwobi's bouncing shot. From the resulting corner, confusion in the visitor's penalty area then led to the Chilean having another chance, but this time he fired the ball against the post.
Buoyed by that chance, the hosts poured forward in search of the breakthrough as Sanchez was denied once again by Foster who touched his fierce drive over the bar.
The West Brom goalkeeper continued to deny Wenger's side with a number of fine stops and the away side nearly made them pay when Petr Cech dropped a corner at the feet of Claudio Yacob but thankfully for the Arsenal keeper, the defender could only blaze over at the back post.
59' Foster dives to his left to keep out a low shot from Giroud (0-0) #ARSWBA
With the minutes ticking by, Wenger turned to his subs bench and saw his side go agonisingly close once again when Lucas Perez fizzed a low pass across the face of goal and inches away from Mesut Ozil.
But with the match seemingly destined to end 0-0, Arsenal found the breakthrough with just four minutes to spare when Ozil's fine cross was met by a looping Giroud header which, to the delight of the vast majority of the Emirates stadium, dipped underneath Foster's crossbar and into the net.
With little time to respond, West Brom were left to rue a late lapse in concentration as the match ended 1-0 and got Arsenal's stuttering season back on track. The win keeps Wenger's men in the top four although they still remain nine points off of leaders Chelsea, who won their home match with Bournemouth 3-0.
The wait is over - here's our Boxing Day lineup for #AFCvWBA pic.twitter.com/EnDoN6sBvr
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Albion team v @Arsenal: Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Nyom; Yacob, Fletcher (c); Brunt, Chadli, Phillips; Rondon #ARSWBA pic.twitter.com/0jU2O57QUH
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