Arsenal win well to maintain title challenge
From afar it looked like it might be one of the big examinations of Mikel Arteta’s team’s capacity to stay in this Premier League title race, but close up there was never any doubt against a Newcastle United team that were broken very easily.
The sixth straight Premier League win for Arsenal by a comfortble 4-1 margin leaves them within two points of leaders Liverpool, and overflowing with confidence.
Defending champions Manchester City are a point behind Liverpool and a point ahead of Arsenal after a Phil Foden goal was enough to give them an unconvincing 1-0 win at Bournemouth.
Arteta had Gabriel Jesus on the bench for the first time since that injury against Nottingham Forest at the end of last month. His team looked razor sharp when it came to finding the corridors through Newcastle and there were moments in the first half when they played with an intensity that the visitors could not live with.
It was notable that in one of the rare occasions Arsenal had to play out from a freekick in their own half, both Declan Rice and Jorginho found themselves man-marked by Sean Longstaff and Lewis Miley. Rare it was that Newcastle had the chance to apply that kind of pressure.
Arsenal squeezed up and kept the grip on possession. Both the centre-halves for Newcastle looked rocky and none more so than Sven Botman. His was an own goal for the first, a dismal foul-up on the line when Newcastle goalkeeper Loris Karius pushed a header from Gabriel Magalhaes in front of his own goal and Tino Livramento managed to strike it against Botman and in.
That was just midway through the half and there was a giant gulf between the sides. The confidence in Arsenal was evident. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were on top of their respective fullbacks. Fabian Schar gave Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard the ball on 26 minutes and Newcastle looked relieved to reach halftime just the two goals behind.
Kai Havertz missed a good chance early on and although Newcastle kept some stability in the game it all started to fall apart after 20 minutes of the second half. Alexander Isak had their best moment of the game, a ball hit crossfield by Bruno Guimaraes that he took on the left with his right foot before slipping past Ben White and shaping a shot over. There was a bit of promise in that moment and then swiftly Newcastle conceded a third.
Again a Botman mistake was at the start of it although there were many chances to rescue it after that. There was plenty good about Arsenal, with another ball around the corner from Rice and Odegaard breaking the line before Saka stepped past Livramento on the right and rolled one past Karius.
The next was a header for substitute Jakub Kiwior direct from the Rice corner, a connection that may have scraped Miley’s head on the way in.
In other matches, Aston Villa maintained their push for a Champions League place with a 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest but Manchester United’s recent momentum was stalled with a 2-1 home defeat to Fulham.
Crystal Palace eased any relegation concerns with a 3-0 home win over struggling Burnley, but Everton remain on the cusp of the drop zone after conceding a late equaliser to draw 1-1 at Brighton.
- Telegraph Group