Fasten your seatbelts because it promises to be one hell of a ride. West Bromwich Albion are going to try to survive in the Barclays Premier League by playing the beautiful game. Some would call it naive, others would call it suicidal, but Tony Mowbray has principles and the West Brom manager is sticking to his guns.

“We can’t kick lumps out of anybody because we haven’t got that type of player,” Mowbray said. “Everyone keeps telling me to go and buy a central midfield player but I’m not interested in central midfield players. I’m only interested in good footballers. The more good footballers you’ve got, the better chance you’ve got.”

When Mowbray was the first-team coach at Ipswich Town, he used to jump on a midweek train to London and pay to watch Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Thierry Henry play for Arsenal in the Champions League. “I’m a football nut and Arsenal are as good a team as there is,” he said. “The players change but the philosophy stays the same.”

As a nononsense and rugged centre back, Mowbray took no prisoners while captaining Middlesbrough for almost a decade, but as a manager he is a different beast. Hit and hope has been replaced by pass and move but only time will tell if his calculated gamble ends in survival or with his side returning to the Coca-Cola Championship.

Relegation seemed to be on the cards after only 3 minutes and 42 seconds of the season when Samir Nasri swept Arsenal in front from close range, but West Brom weathered the early storm and could have snatched a point if Manuel Almunia had not made two excellent saves and if Johan Djourou had not cleared Paul Robinson’s low strike off the line.

Nasri was neat and tidy after his £12.8 million move from Marseilles and adapted well to the intensity of the English game. The France midfield player caught Arsène Wenger’s eye last year and the Arsenal manager backed his own judgment despite others warning him that Nasri was not the same player after he contracted meningitis. “I saw him play and he made an impression that stayed with me,” Wenger said. “Sometimes you have to stick to your beliefs.”

No wonder Wenger was impressed with West Brom. Mowbray’s team will carry on passing and moving against Everton on Saturday while Arsenal will be playing the beautiful game away to Fulham. It may end in tears next May, but at least it will be worth the price of admission.

Arsenal (4-4-2): M Almunia 7 – B Sagna 7, W Gallas 7, J Djourou 8, G Clichy 7 – T Walcott 6 (sub: K Touré, 72min), E Eboué 6, Denilson 6, S Nasri 8 – N Bendtner 6 (sub: R van Persie, 69 7), E Adebayor 6.Substitutes not used: L Fabianski, C Vela, A Ramsey, J Wilshere, M Randall. Next: Fulham (a).

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-1-1): S Carson 6 – C Hoefkens 6, L Barnett 7, A Méïté 6, P Robinson 7 – M Cech 6 (sub: S MacDonald, 67 6), J Morrison 7, J Greening 7, C Brunt 6 (sub: C Beattie, 79) – K Do-Heon 7 – I Miller 7 (sub: R Bednar, 73). Substitutes not used: D Kiely, G Dorrans, P Pele, S Martis. Next: Everton (h).

Referee: H Webb. Attendance: 60,071

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