Saturday's 3pm game saw Arsenal travel to St James/Sports Direct/ House of Fraser Park, to a Newcastle team that had recently shown resilient performances against the league's top sides, while having nothing to show for it. Arsenal's season has also left something to be desired thus far, with two games won and two games lost (albeit to Manchester City and Chelsea). With both teams coming into the game having a point to prove, this was always going to be a tantalising fixture.
The beginning of the first half began like all of our games this season - sluggish, disorientated and disorganised at the back. However, what was promising was how quickly Arsenal emerged out of this early lethargy and started playing the style of football Emery needed from his squad. Newcastle did have the better portion of play in the first half, with our playing out of the back, defensive errors and wayward passes still proving to be key flaws in our game - Mustafi being one of the names that repeatedly comes to mind; but there were many flashes of good attacking football from the Gunners in that first half.
However, lack lustre performances from our talismen in Aubameyang and Lacazette meant such flashes of attacking football fizzled out into goal kicks, blocked shots or a simple loss of possession (something i think Özil may have been at fault for a few times in that first half). This wasn't for the want of trying though - the desire and ambition to score was certainly apparent.
When Torreira was subbed on for Guendouzi in the second half, a whole new team stepped onto the field. The midfield was solid, complimentary to both defence and attack and created a fluidity in Arsenal's play that they had been searching for. This fluidity demanded chance upon chance to be made, which, soon enough, led to two well taken goals.
One, a superb set piece from long-shot specialist Xhaka, and another being a well-placed finish after a kerfuffle in Newcastle's area - seen to by a certain Mesut Özil. Two goals which added to a ever growing stat for the Gunners, one which boasts that there have been ten different scorers for the club this season (including a West Ham own goal). Both goals also cast a different kind of spotlight on the goalscorers to ones they have been used to experiencing as of late, usually being among the company of players held as scapegoats for the team's bad performances.
Arsenal continued to press on and attack after the additions of Mkhitaryan and Welbeck; and whilst Newcastle made sure we still continue to search for the first clean sheet of the season following a late Ciaran Clark consolation header, this is a third consecutive win in a row. This is a result which helps the team steamroll with even more momentum into our next few games at home and on the road, and will surely silence a few critics of Emery too, for the time being at least.
Player Reviews:
Cech: 6.5 - Despite a blunder at the beginning (not of his own fault) and conceding at the very end; Cech did well when called into action against the Magpies, and made a couple of impressive saves.
Bellerin: 7 - While there is still many questions about his commitment and ability to defend, Bellerin attacked and pressed well in crucial areas of the pitch, and sought to force the agenda to score in both halves. Consistently potent throughout.
Mustafi: 5 - Mustafi with another performance that warranted anger and frustration from Arsenal fans, and a performance which exposed all of the flaws in his game - going to ground too easily and too frequently, and poor decision making. Was saved many a time by his centre back partner.
Sokratis: 9 - MOTM - A composed, convincing and solid performance. Saved Mustafi after many defensive howlers, showed a great turn of speed, was intelligent under pressure (albeit not too much of it from Newcastle attackers) and was incredibly focused in defence - the only blemish on his performance being not picking up Clark's run into the box late into the match.
Monreal: 6 - Decent performance from the Arsenal stalwart, although nothing to write home about. Didn't face too many problems from Newcastle's timid attack.
Guendouzi: 5 - Was subbed off at half time, and the addition of Lucas Torreira simply highlighted why his replacement should start ahead of him. Guendouzi, in being a ball playing, deep lying central midfielder, does not compliment Xhaka well. While characteristically ambitious and positive with the ball throughout the half, he did not give a convincing argument by way of his performance to start the next game.
Xhaka: 8.5 - A fantastic performance from the Swiss international, especially in the second half with the addition of Torreira into the field. Scored a sublime free kick, and did well to provide the killer ball which eventually fell into the path of Özil for the second goal.
Ramsey: 5.5 - High energy performance as always from the Welshman; but failed to actually affect the game, and his lack of impact was epitomised by the shanking of the ball in that woeful effort to square the ball during the 90.
Özil: 7.5 - Had a pretty underwhelming first half, but began to grow in confidence throughout the second half and ultimately grabbed himself a goal on his 200th appearance for the club with a cool and composed finish.
Aubameyang: 6 - Tried to have an impact on the game, but seemed off the boil throughout the match. Attempted to create and link up with Lacazette throughout, but failed to light up the game with his performance.
Lacazette: 6 - Again, like Aubameyang, tried to change the game throughout, but did not succeed in his efforts, due to both impressive defending from Federico Fernández and a lack of service.
Subs:
Torreira: 7.5
Mkhitaryan: 5.5
Welbeck: 5
Thoughts? Opinions?
Let us know @clockend_talk.
By @carljhiggins
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