Football | West Brom relegated from Premier League
West Bromwich Albion have been relegated from the Premier League after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates.
Emile Smith Rowe, Nicolas Pepe and Willian found the net for the Gunners, who have sent the Baggies back to the Championship after a single campaign in England's top flight, with Matheus Pereira scoring for West Brom.
The result also means that Sam Allardyce has experienced relegation for the first time in his managerial career.
Mikel Arteta's hosts, who were knocked out of the Europa League by Villareal on Thursday night, entered the match looking for their first home win in two months.
Arsenal made a shaky start in North London, with Pereira rifling a powerful effort wide and Republic of Ireland international Callum Robinson rattling the crossbar for Allardyce's visitors.
The Gunners took the lead in the 29th minute when Bukayo Saka's inviting left-footed cross from the byline was volleyed into the net by Smith Rowe from six yards.
Five minutes later, Nicolas Pepe doubled Arsenal's lead with a sumptuous strike, cutting in from the right wing and curling a superb effort into the far top corner.
West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone then made a sharp save late in the half to deny the overlapping Saka from an acute angle.
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Arteta's men continued to carve through the Baggies' defence in the second half, but it was the away side who grabbed the game's third goal.
In the 66th minute, Pereira picked up the ball on the half way line and drove at the Arsenal defence.
Players continued to back off the midfielder, who dribbled forward determinedly before firing a low left-footed strike into the bottom corner from 20 yards.
However, West Brom were unable to find a second goal to keep their survival hopes alive, and Arsenal put the game to bed in some style in the 89th minute.
Willian curled a sublime free kick into the top corner from 25 yards to put the game beyond doubt, ending the Gunners' winless run at the Emirates.
The final whistle condemned West Brom to their fifth relegation from the Premier League, the joint-most by a team alongside Norwich City.
"It's not sunk in yet, but I'm sure I'll wake up tomorrow and realise the situation," Allardyce said afterwards.
"I'm bitterly disappointed we're not still in the fight.
"I'm not saying we would have avoided relegation but we should have been closer, we should have taken it down to the last three games, based on how we performed. The creating of chances has been there but the converting has not.
"We had [enough] time to pull it round. Our real problem was not beating the bottom-six sides when we came up against them. The results against Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City should have been bonus points."