Arsenal

The Gunners reached the final in 2006, when they lost to Barcelona, but have failed to progress beyond the last 16 in the last six seasons.

Wenger, who has entered the last year of his contract at the Emirates Stadium, is under particular pressure to mount a serious challenge for the latter stages as question marks remain over his long-term future.

And, though the 66-year-old says his personal circumstances have no bearing on their aims for this term, he is keen to see his side produce some of their best football against the continent's elite.

Consecutive draws had all but ended Arsenal's chances of overhauling Premier League leaders Leicester City and they began the night only a point above fifth-placed Manchester United in the battle to secure Champions League football.

However, Sanchez struck twice before halftime and Arsenal were untroubled by a poor West Brom side as they registered their 500th victory in the Premier League.

At the other end of the table Swansea City improved their prospects of avoiding relegation with a 2-1 win at Everton in new Italian head coach Francesco Guidolin's first match.

Arsenal's German defender Per Mertesacker was sent off after 18 minutes for denying a goalscoring opportunity to Diego Costa, who scored the only goal five minutes later from a cross by Branislav Ivanovic.

The England and United skipper was perfectly placed to hook a powerful volley past keeper Simon Mignolet after 78 minutes when a header from Marouane Fellaini bounced off the crossbar.

Rooney has now scored in four successive games and took his Premier League tally to 176, more than any other player for one club, overtaking the previous record of 175 that Thierry Henry managed for Arsenal.

Manchester City also showed they are in no mood to give up on the title race in the late game, scoring twice in the final eight minutes to complete a superb 2-1 comeback victory over Watford.

It looked like their charge would continue to splutter as they fell a goal behind on 55 minutes when Aleksandar Kolarov glanced a header into his own net from a corner.