Premier League: Alan Irvine defiant after criticism during West Brom's 1-0 defeat to Arsenal

Alan Irvine was not overly concerned by criticism from the terraces during West Brom's 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal.

A second-half header from Danny Welbeck earned the Gunners a narrow victory at The Hawthorns in Saturday's early Premier League kick-off.

Saido Berahino hit the bar late on for the subdued Baggies, who have now lost three straight games.

Home fans chanted "You don't know what you're doing" towards Albion head coach Irvine after he replaced Stephane Sessegnon with Georgios Samaras.

It's not nice to hear it but people have their own opinions and it very nearly worked.

"It's not nice to hear it but people have their own opinions and it very nearly worked," said Irvine of the substitution.

"We looked as if we might score when perhaps we didn't look like scoring too many times prior to the changes. Had it worked, perhaps people would have had a different judgement.

"We got close to getting something. We were committing a lot of people forward and put Arsenal under pressure at the end. We started the game well and Arsenal looked a threat on the counter but then we lost that control."

Irvine also rued an offside call after Berahino was stopped as he looked to run clean through at the start of the second half, despite looking onside.

He said: "It's two weeks in a row (after Diego Costa scored against them from an offside position), two big decisions have gone against us. People make mistakes but you could do without them. It makes the job against teams like Chelsea and Arsenal that much harder."