Alexandre Lacazette's first double in English football continued Arsenal's excellent home form as they beat West Brom 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
On an evening when Alexis Sanchez, widely expected to leave at the season's end when his contract expires, made his first league start since his attempt to join rivals Manchester City, the striker continued to justify his club-record transfer fee.
Spoiling the occasion of Gareth Barry's record 633rd Premier League appearance, his two goals also ensured a continuation of Arsenal's 100 per cent record at the Emirates so far this season and wider run of eight consecutive home league wins.
Arsenal are a 40/1 chance with Sky Bet to win the Premier League title and 13/8 for a top-four finish, behind Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool in the odds.
West Brom are available at 6/1 to go down.
The biggest RequestABet winner of the night was Lacazette to score with a header and Arsenal to net with a penalty at 66/1!
A 20th-minute free-kick produced their opening goal. Ben Foster tipped Sanchez's curling effort away, but with the goalkeeper on the floor, Lacazette was the quickest to respond and instinctively headed low into the near open goal.
In the 67th minute, the opportunity presented itself for Lacazette to seal all three points.
Allan Nyom clumsily brought down Aaron Ramsey inside the area and, with Sanchez still on the pitch, Lacazette stepped up to finish into the bottom-right corner beyond the diving Foster.
Arsenal's 2-0 win made it four out of five winning tips for our Premier League tipster David John this weekend...
- Arsenal to beat West Brom and under 2.5 goals at 11/4
- Philippe Coutinho to score anytime in Leicester v Liverpool at 11/4
- Under 1.5 goals in Burnley v Huddersfield at 49/25
- Tottenham to beat West Ham and both teams to score at 23/10
Post-match reaction
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted the Gunners could not afford to drop points.
He said: "You're always under pressure when everybody else wins. You know that you cannot afford to drop points.
"We know in the Premier League that the team who can give you a very difficult night is West Brom and that's why, for me, it was an important win."
West Brom striker Jay Rodriguez was perhaps unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty when brought down by Shkodran Mustafi in the first half.
But after returning to his feet, Rodriguez forced Petr Cech into a fine save.
Rodriguez felt he was fouled. He said: "For me, I felt contact.
"Obviously I went down and I was just waiting for the foul to be given but it wasn't given so I got back up because I wasn't injured or hurt, I've seen the chance to score and Cech made a good save.
"For me, it was a penalty but you get them and you don't."
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