by Where there was once madness, now there were only rays of sunshine. Mikel Arteta was distraught in November when Arsenal slumped to a narrow defeat at St James’ Park, barely able to voice his disbelief at the VAR decisions that affected the result.
This fixture has had enough spice in its recent history to suggest fireworks and Arteta had said asking should the Emirates reach new decibel levels. His team fielded an impressive field of their own and, assuming this is going to be a three-way title race to the finish, they show no sign of being a spare wheel.
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Arteta had nothing to complain about here and neither did Eddie Howe, whose Newcastle side had been left in the dust. Arsenal shut them down in a very one-sided first half, winning every individual battle comfortably as they looked like the collective who have now won six straight league games to a 25-3 aggregate. They worked some pace ahead of their visitors despite the stress of recovering 72 hours from their defeat in Porto. Their manager deserved a bashing.
“We are having a good moment,” said Arteta. “Things are flowing. We are scoring goals in different ways and, above all, we want more. When we score one we want two, or three, or four. I love that attitude from the team.”
Newcastle had gone ahead in the second half when Bukayo Saka scored, finishing after Kai Havertz caught an error from the accident-prone Sven Botman to put Arsenal three goals ahead.
Almost immediately Jakub Kiwior’s header came in through a great deflection from Lewis Miley and these were the series that made Arteta particularly happy. Arsenal are putting teams away where they could give them a way back for once. Howe might have smelled after the restart but he came up against an opponent who had learned to be ruthless.
That said, Arsenal’s two-goal interval lead was hardly indicative of their level of play. “It could have been a lot more today too, we have to demand that,” said Arteta, and he had a point. After keeping Arsenal safe early on Howe thought Newcastle might have weathered the storm; instead he found that it was still coming and, while last season’s visit here was a dead end, there was never the slightest hint that they could achieve things this time.
Loris Karius made his first Premier League appearance in nearly six years after Martin Dubravka fell ill, making saves from Saka and Declan Rice in the first 10 minutes but was powerless when called upon to do so. Gabriel Magalhães hit Saka’s right-hand corner, as there are many, and Karius did well to pull home the header. Spinning the ball Botman tried to clear but failed to make contact; when he came down only Tino Livramento could beat him and, although Karius eventually smothered, he had already crossed the line.
“We knew the corners were coming and we should have done better,” Howe said. Arsenal are the modern masters of set-pieces and, with all goals going strong, the initial execution of the routine was straight from the textbook of their coach Nico Jover.
The open play was equally fruitful. Jorginho was masterful when he returned to the starting line-up and, when Newcastle’s latest aimless clearance was recycled, he lofted a clever pass into the path of Gabriel Martinelli’s run. Martinelli crossed from the left to Arsenal’s right and, after easing the ball in full flight, pulled it back from the touchline. I dashed Havertz to convert emphatically from six yards and the result was almost sealed.
“Very disappointing from our perspective,” Howe said in the first half. “I don’t think we competed well enough, which really didn’t look like us.” Anyone could demur. Another example came when Fabian Schär allowed Martin Ødegaard to pick his pocket, thanking Sean Longstaff for a last-ditch intervention with Havertz poised to score again. Martinelli missed a header before the break and Karius saved well from Saka; Newcastle missed a shot.
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They had some encouragement when Havertz missed a keeper just after the restart. It changed the tone slightly and Alexander Isak, whose return was a rare bright spot, was twice threatened and Anthony Gordon flickered to the left. But the spring arsenal was now agitated, like a practiced unit that could sniff out mistakes. Saka cut inside and drilled low across Karius before Kiwior headed home another corner at the near post to further improve Jover’s night.
Joe Willock, another man back from injury, added some satisfaction with a curling header against his old club but Newcastle were outclassed. They conceded 31 times in 12 games and Howe’s worries are light years from those of his other numbers. “We have to make sure we believe we can do it,” Arteta said of Arsenal’s end-of-season prospects. It’s hard to think otherwise right now.
