A tale of two halves as Arsenal flash with promise in victory against Newcastle

Newcastle United 1-2 Arsenal: Both Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil were on target for Unai Emery's visitors, who have now won their last three games

Granit Xhaka hit a fine free-kick to break the deadlock (Getty)

A third victory on the bounce for Arsenal, not to mention the club’s first consecutive away win in the Premier League since May 2017, and yet Unai Emery knows better than anyone there is still an awful lot of work to be done. “In the first-half we could not control the match like we wanted,” he admitted at the very start of his post-match press conference, his nose wrinkled in frustration. “We needed much more control.”

That control ultimately arrived with the introduction of Lucas Torreira at half-time, after Arsenal had weathered a bright start from an unusually exuberant Newcastle. The hosts had their chances but were made to pay the price for their failure to open the scoring, with second-half goals from Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil ultimately proving enough for Arsenal to win the game.

By the time Newcastle had finally got the ball into Arsenal’s net, through the rather unlikely Ciaran Clark, it was too little too late. Rafa Benitez’s side lumber on with just a solitary point to their name, with this defeat equalling their lowest ever return after the opening five fixtures of a Premier League campaign. Such a damning statistic is all the more harsh on his team considering how well they started here, not to mention how willing they were to press forward and exploit the space behind Arsenal’s wandering full-backs.

Mesut Ozil added Arsenal's second (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

“I’m not concerned because I know my team and know we can do well. We can be there and be close,” Benitez insisted after the match. “Now the next step is to show we have the ability and quality in the final third to make a difference. It’s important for us to be there and make chances. They had two shots on target and scored two goals, that’s the difference.”

It takes some doing to entice a side managed by Benitez to flood forward with abandon and yet that’s precisely what Arsenal achieved in the opening stages. The lively Jacob Murphy was twice allowed in behind thanks to untimely slips from Shkodran Mustafi, while only a crunching tackle from the much improved Sokratis Papastathopoulos prevented Ayoze Perez gliding through on goal on the counter-attack.

The continued struggles of poor old Petr Cech also encouraged Newcastle forward. In truth, a lot of the criticism doled out to the 36-year-old recently has been excessive — he is yet to be directly at fault for a goal this season, unlike, say, Alisson — but he is so painfully uncomfortable playing the ball out in this fashion. Exhibit A: passing the ball directly out of play for a corner as early as the eleventh minute.

Arsenal’s early struggles infuriated an increasingly agitated Emery on the touchline. So much so that, half an hour into the match, he froze dead still in horror at yet another piece of sloppy defending, arms outstretched and palms turned skywards. He held his statuesque pose for exactly a minute before finally jolting himself back to life.

Hector Bellerin attempts to block a cross from Jacob Murph (AFP/Getty Images)

Their inauspicious start made the continued exclusion of Torreira all the more surprising. Particularly as Arsenal were so immediately improved by his arrival at the beginning of the second-half, in place of the enthusiastic but erratic Mattéo Guendouzi. In short, Torreria is everything the teenager is not: tidy and decisive in possession, and — crucially — experienced enough to know what position he should be taking up in Arsenal’s midfield.

Yet it was another midfielder that broke the deadlock. Emery deserves credit for keeping Xhaka on the pitch in place of Guendouzi and he was immediately rewarded, with the Swiss stepping in front of Torreria to lash home his free-kick after Federico Fernández had brought down Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the most dangerous of positions.

Xhaka also had a role in Arsenal’s expertly crafted second, which both killed the match and the bubbling enthusiasm which had been rippling round St James’ Park from kick-off. He exchanged a series of cute passes with Nacho Monreal before picking out a lurking Alexandre Lacazette with a fine low ball into the box.

Ayoze Perez is put under pressure by Shkodran Mustafi (Getty Images)

The Frenchman’s shot was charged down but fell kindly for Ozil, who so elegantly opened up his body and struck the ball with his insole as Newcastle’s panicked centre-backs scrambled back across the box expecting a piledriver. Instead Ozil slipped his shot between them, with Martin Dúbravka getting a hand to it but failing to parry it clear.

From that point onwards Arsenal were in complete control, holding Newcastle at arm’s length and seemingly close to securing their first clean sheet under Emery, which would have been almost as welcome as the three points.

But it proved beyond them, with Clark crashing a header past Cech in the dying seconds. His goal ultimately succeeded only in scuppering Arsenal’s clean sheet, slightly tinting another lopsided — albeit winning — performance under Emery.