Head over heels Aubameyang double has Arsenal flying
Arsenal 3 — 0 Newcastle
Just as Arsenal might have been starting to fret that they had handed out another huge contract to a star player once deemed indispensable, who then failed to perform, Pierreemerick Aubameyang gave them a reminder of what he is worth.
On the day Mesut Ozil finally left for Fenerbahce, the Arsenal captain claimed two goals – and should have had a hat-trick – as Newcastle were easily dismissed in a powerful second-half performance. It also felt like Arsenal can finally move on from the Ozil distraction even if, again, he was all over social media as the game kicked off professing his love.
Arsenal know the Ozil affair can still come back to haunt them, so a thumping victory, even if it only lifted them to 10th in the table, was crucial for Mikel Arteta. The manager will be confident that if Aubameyang is back to form, and with the outstanding Thomas Partey fit again, his team will not have to be so reliant on Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.
In saying that, the two young tyros were excellent again and have usurped expensive recruits Nicolas Pepe and Willian.
Not that they will play Newcastle every week. Manager Steve Bruce had angrily declared, after the hopeless loss to Sheffield United last week, that he would do it his way, that the “gloves are off ” and called it on – only for his team to slump to a seventh league game without a win while also exiting both cup competitions.
They are facing a relegation battle and what was so frightening was not how they went about it, but how they folded once they fell behind. This is not the response Bruce would have wanted and he knows the danger of his declarations.
He made eight changes, and appeared bold and attacking with a 4-4-2 system, pairing Andy Carroll and Callum Wilson up front, but Newcastle rarely looked like denying Arsenal a fifth successive clean sheet for the first time since 2009. This is a strange season indeed, given how hapless they have been at times.
The first half was memorable only for an astonishing miss by Aubameyang, which appeared to highlight his curious lack of confidence since signing that much-heralded threeyear deal last September.
In his 400th appearance in European football he side-footed wide after being allowed to run into the Newcastle penalty area and struck a first-time effort over the bar. But those chances were nothing compared to when Smith Rowe smartly picked out Saka and his low, crossshot deflected off goalkeeper Karl Darlow’s outstretched leg.
It fell to Aubameyang at the far post and appeared a straightforward finish, but he somehow side-footed the ball across goal, with it rebounding back out off the other post. It would have been a simple tap-in had he gone with his right foot. Instead, it was just a bad miss.
For Newcastle, Miguel Almiron was lively, but there was no real threat with Partey dominating in midfield and giving Arsenal something they had lacked all season: a player looking to move the ball forward.
And he did just that with the opening goal. Shortly after Darlow had saved well, one-handed when unsighted, from Alexandre Lacazette, the goalkeeper was left with no chance after Partey switched the play to the left to pick out Aubameyang.the 31-year-old was in his trademark position, running in from the left, and he found a trademark finish. It helped that Emil Krafth backed off and allowed Aubameyang into the Newcastle area, where he used the defender as a shield to strike a powerful, rising shot between Darlow and his near post. It was vintage Aubameyang and it changed everything.
Distressingly for Newcastle, they simply folded. They did not press the ball, they did not fight and that was summed up when Smith Rowe was also allowed to work his way from the left with Jamaal Lascelles – making his first start for two months, having recovered from Covid-19 – failing to close him down. Smith Rowe accepted the invitation and pulled the ball back to Saka, who side-footed it past Darlow from close to the penalty spot.
It was a goal scored almost at jogging pace from the moment goalkeeper Bernd Leno threw the ball out to when Smith Rowe upped the pace. But he hardly had to exert himself.
It was game over and Arteta quickly took Partey off and later withdrew Aubameyang, but not before he claimed a second goal – and just his fifth in the league this season – with Saka again involved. There was a poor clearance intercepted by Cedric Soares, who exchanged passes with Saka before
reaching the byline and cutting the ball back for Aubameyang to sweep into an empty net.
Replays seemed to suggest the ball may have been out of play, but a Var check gave the goal. The margin must have been millimetres.
It did not affect the result, Newcastle were gone already – the body language and lack of running was terrible – but it summed up their miserable night and the eventual gulf between the two sides.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Leno 6; Cedric 6, Holding 6, Luiz 6, Tierney 7; Partey 8 (Elneny 67), Xhaka 7; Saka 8, Smith Rowe 7 (Martinelli 82), Aubameyang 8 (Willian 79); Lacazette 7. Subs Runarsson (g), Gabriel, Bellerin, Willock, Pepe, Nketiah.
Newcastle United (4-4-2) Darlow 7; Krafth 5, Lascelles 4, Clark 6, Lewis 5; Almiron 7 (Anderson 87), Shelvey 5, M Longstaff 5 (Hendrick 78), Joelinton 4; Wilson 5, Carroll 6 (Murphy 69). Subs Dubravka (g), Ritchie, Hayden, Manquillo, Yedlin, S Longstaff.
Referee David Coote (Nottinghamshire).