ARTETA FINDS GLASS IS HALF FULL
Arsenal fire four in the second period after Bruce’s toothless strikeforce blow it once again
THIS was half a performance by Arsenal and in the end it was comfortable enough. Poor in the first half, Mikel Arteta’s team could have been behind had Newcastle managed to solve their goalscoring problem during the January transfer window. But they didn’t, so they weren’t.
Beyond that, Arsenal were much improved. Newcastle, for all their promise with the ball at times, gave Arsenal’s creative players too much space and eventually paid for that basic, unforgivable sin.
A two-goal margin would have been right. As it was, two more at the death moved Arsenal into the top half of the table and their goal difference into the positive. At the
Emirates these days, these things matter. The four goals were scored by £220million worth of talent. Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette were the players involved.
But what surely gave coach Arteta most heart was the chance to showcase some of Arsenal’s developing players.
Eddie Nketiah — aged 20 and from Lewisham — started up front and struck the crossbar. Bukayo Saka — aged 18 and from Ealing — was at left back and set up a lovely second goal for Pepe with a nutmeg on Newcastle’s Valentino Lazaro.
If Arsenal are to make significant strides, academy talent such as this will have to play a part.
Newcastle, meanwhile, are 13th in the table and seven points from the danger line. They will not feel they can relax. They have won only once in the league this year and their struggles in front of goal are clear.
Bruce was creative in January, bringing in players such as Lazaro on loan from Inter and Danny Rose from Tottenham. Nabil Bentaleb, once of Tottenham, looks a decent addition, too, but still they have not found a scorer.
Quite simply, Newcastle were the more eager early on. It wasn’t that the Arsenal players were not running or covering. There was just not enough ‘snap’.
With Lazaro and Rose as wing backs, Newcastle sought to overload in wide positions. Lazaro may have shot first time when found by Joelinton and then Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno saved well after Sean Longstaff’s volley had been deflected.
Shortly after, Joelinton missed a big chance when the dangerous Allan Saint-Maximin found him at the near post.
Improvement did come from Arsenal.
Young Saka is a talent and likes to get forward. He had a shot saved by Martin Dubravka as did Aubameyang, both found in space by
Ozil, who was starting to enjoy freedom in front of Newcastle’s back five.
Before half-time Dubravka flapped at a corner and Joelinton headed off the line from Shkodran Mustafi. The flow of the game had definitely shifted and whatever Arteta said at the break only accentuated that.
Ozil had a taste for it. His pass to Pepe in the 50th minute played his team-mate to the byline and, when the Ivorian pulled the ball back to Nketiah, he smashed it against the bar when he should have scored.
It was soon forgotten. Pepe picked the ball up on the right, crossed deep to Aubameyang and when he jumped between Lazaro and Federico Fernandez, he was able to head it back across goal and down into the corner.
It was a goal Arsenal’s improvement deserved and the second came three minutes later.
This time, there was no mistaking the quality. Saka poked the ball through Lazaro’s legs on the far side and looked up to find Pepe.
The left-foot finish was delivered first time from 12 yards and Dubravka had no chance.
How different everything suddenly felt. There was life in the Emirates and not much left in Newcastle.
A goal back would have helped Bruce’s team. It could have arrived in the 63rd minute, when David Luiz diverted a close- range shot from Ciaran Clark round a post. Then, 10 minutes later, Saint-Maximin struck the frame of the goal.
Arteta used his substitutions well and they brought late energy. Ozil induced a howler from Dubravka after a move involving 35 passes before Lacazette shanked one into the corner in added time. Newcastle players ended the day on their knees and haunches while Arsenal cavorted by the corner flag. One team was not that bad — the other was not that consistently good.
Both will hope to get better.