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Full time: Arsenal 4-0 Newcastle
Peep peep! That was an excellent second-half performance from Arsenal, whose increased intensity and quality was too much for Newcastle. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring with a quite superb header in the 54th minute, and the match was all but over when Pepe made it 2-0 three minutes later. The scoreline was given a slightly flattering sheen by late goals from Mesut Ozil and a delighted Alexandre Lacazette.
90+5 min That goal meant so much to Lacazette, who celebrated like it was his first. He actually screwed the shot onto his standing foot, from where it ricocheted into the top corner, not that he’ll care.
GOAL! Arsenal 4-0 Newcastle (Lacazette 90+5)
It’s four! Lacazette gets his first goal in 10 games, miskicking Pepe’s pass into the top corner, and the Arsenal players cavort by the corner flag.
90+2 min This win moves Arsenal up to tenth - but they are only six points behind Spurs in fifth. It’s not beyond the realms, is it.
90+1 min Six minutes of added time. Ozil leaves to a very warm ovation and an embrace from Mikel Arteta. Joe Willock replaces him.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle (Ozil 90)
Mesut Ozil seals a comfortable win for Arsenal, cushioning a close-range volley through Dubravka from a speculative cross by Lacazette. It was a goalkeeping error.
86 min Ritchie’s outswinging corner is headed back towards goal by Lascelles and claimed by Leno. Arsenal break through Saka, whose stirring run ends with low cross that is just too far in front of Lacazette.
85 min Alexandre Lacazette replaces the full debutant Eddie Nketiah, who gets a warm round of applause from the home fans. He worked very hard - if anything he was overeager at times - and hit the bar early in the second half.
84 min Arsenal’s next game is away to Olympiacos in the Europa League on Thursday. They then play Everton at home a week today. Newcastle’s next match is away to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
83 min Ciaran Clark is unable to continue. Fabian Schar replaces him.
82 min Lucas Torreira comes on for Arsenal in place of Dani Ceballos, who had a decent game on his return to the side.
80 min Saka overruns the ball and ploughs through Clark, with both players ending up in a heap on the edge of the area. Saka is booked.
79 min Saint-Maximin is only 22. If his decision making improves, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t, he will become a brilliant player.
76 min “Lacazette wouldn’t be human,” says Charles Antaki, “if he wasn’t thinking of Nketiah he Hasn’t Done Enough.”
There’s a Smiths lyric in that.
75 min: Saint-Maximin hits the post! That was a brilliant effort from Newcastle’s most dangerous player. He picked up a loose ball 30 yards from goal, beat Bellerin with strength and Mustafi with skill before curling a lovely shot that flashed past the diving Leno and smacked off the far post.
74 min Newcastle make a double change, with Matt Ritchie and Isaac Hayden replacing Valentino Lazaro and Federico Fernandez.
72 min There’s a break in play while Xhaka receives treatment. He injured himself while blocking a long-range shot from Sean Longstaff.
70 min Two-nil is a dangerous lead, according to the never-ending book of football cliches, but Arsenal look very comfortable right now.
67 min Aubameyang’s teasing chipped cross, intended for Nketiah, bounces off the top of the crossbar and behind for a goalkick.
65 min “I prefer to say such things after the two goals - how can Arteta play Nketiah, a not even really promising striker, push Auba wide and leave Martinelli on the bench?” sniffs Hurley. As for Ceballos... One final groan - Saka, who is a wonderfully promising player, does all the work for the goal, and Pepe runs off to pose for the cameras. You remember the United and Arsenal players from 98/99, right?!”
63 min: Clark misses a terrific chance! After a long spell of Newcastle possession, Saint-Maximin ran at Bellerin and found Clark eight yards from goal. He took a touch and scuffed a shot that hit David Luiz and deflected just wide of the far post. I don’t think the original shot was going in anyway.
60 min Arsenal were abysmal for much of the first half. Since half-time, and I suspect an appreciable brollocking from Mikel Arteta, they have been electric.
59 min Another good chance for Arsenal. Pepe is fouled on the edge of the area but the ball runs through to Nketiah, with Lee Mason playing a good advantage. Nketiah declines the opportunitiy of a first-time shot, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, and is dispossessed.
The goal was made beautifully by the young left-back Saka. He nutmegged Lazaro on the left wing, moved into the area and crossed low towards Mustafi and Pepe, who were both in space near the penalty spot. Pepe got there first to slide a first-time shot past Dubravka.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle (Pepe 57)
Two in three minutes!
Arsenal have been excellent since half-time and now they lead. Ozil and Ceballos worked the ball across the field to Pepe on the right. He came back inside and lofted a high, hanging cross to the far post, where Aubameyang got between two defenders and planted a superb header across Dubravka. There was no pace at all on the cross, so he had to concentrate on both power and placement. He managed both with aplomb.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle (Aubameyang 54)
It’s been coming.
50 min: Nketiah hits the bar! That’s the closest either side has come to taking the lead. Ozil played a nice reverse pass to Pepe, who teased Clark and cut the ball back sharply to the edge of the six-yard box. Nketiah had to stretch slightly away from goal, however, which is why he belted his volley off the top of the crossbar rather than into the net.
50 min It’s been a decent start to the second half from Arsenal, with Newcastle pinned back in their own half.
47 min Ceballos clips a nice pass over the top for Aubameyang, who hooks the bouncing ball wide of the far post. It was a half chance at best.
47 min “Mark Lawrenson said that Almiron ‘looks like a player’,” says Ian Copestake, “but I do think he looks more like Dr Seuss’s Cat in a Hat.”
46 min Peep peep! Newcastle begin the second half.
Half-time reading
Half time: Arsenal 0-0 Newcastle
Peep peep! Newcastle will be the happier team at half-time. They dominated the first half an hour and, though Arsenal improved after an abysmal start, most of Martin Dubravka’s work was straightforward. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45 min One added minute.
43 min Saint-Maximin reminds Arsenal of his threat with a scintillating 50-yard run down the left. Eventually he beats Bellerin and slides the ball right across the six-yard area. He should have gone for goal as he had nobody in support.
41 min Pepe’s free-kick is tipped over acrobatically by Dubravka - an eyecatching but relatively straightforward. The corner brings a chance for Mustafi, whose shot is headed off the line by Joelinton.
41 min “Arsenal started the 2007-08 season with three DMs - Diarra, Flamini and Gilberto - and they were all gone within 18 months,” says Norrie Hernon. “We haven’t replaced them, or been the same since. 2008 was the last anywhere near complete Arsenal side.”
Yes, I’d agree with that (though for a month or so in the spring of 2010 I thought you were going to win the league). It’s just that I suspect many people think Arsenal never recovered from selling Vieira and then Henry, and forget how good that 2007-08 team was before the Birmingham match derailed them.
40 min Aubameyang’s deflected long-range shot just clears the crossbar. Arsenal have been so much better in the last 10 minutes.
37 min Ozil plays a good pass to Nketiah, whose snapshot from 16 yards is a bit too close to Dubravka. It was a confident effort, though.