Arsenal: Ospina, Chambers, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Alexis, Cazorla, Welbeck, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Bellerin, Flamini, Rosicky, Walcott
—
Arsenal made it six Premier League wins in a row with a 2-1 win over Newcastle at St James’ Park this afternoon.
Arsene Wenger made a number of changes from the midweek game against Monaco with Ramsey, Chambers and Gabriel coming into starting line-up at the expense of Mertesacker, Bellerin and an absent Mesut Ozil who missed the game through illness. It meant there was still no place in the first XI for Theo Walcott.
The match started brightly at both ends with Alexis coming close to setting up Giroud while at the other end Gabriel had to be alert to block a shot from inside our area. The home side were certainly up for it, pressing Arsenal well and we had to on our toes as they looked to get in behind.
There wasn’t much in the way of goalmouth action, Arsenal had a couple of set-pieces which were half dangerous, until Aaron Ramsey was played in behind the defence in the 22nd minute. With the keeper coming out he tried to flick it with the outside of his foot but miscued it and the chance went begging.
Moments later though, we were ahead with a goal from Olivier Giroud. Having won a free kick in midfield, he then got on the end of a Welbeck flick from Cazorla’s set-piece to guide the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
Less than a minute after that, Welbeck volleyed wide after being set-up by Alexis, and the same pair combined seconds later when the Chilean’s beautiful through ball set the striker in behind but his first touch was poor.
The former Barcelona man was in the mood, quite literally putting the shits up the home side, and it was from his hard work that Arsenal won the corner from which the second goal came. The ball was played in, Giroud held off the defender well and nodded the ball into the bottom corner and it was 2-0 after 28 minutes.
At the other end there were moments of danger when a Sissokho shot was blocked and Monreal blocked a Cabella header, but Arsenal always looked most likely to score again. Giroud was desperate to get his first ever hat-trick for the club and was frustrated late in the half when Ramsey got on the end of an Alexis cross which might have suited him better, but it meant a two goal lead was enough to take into the break.
There were no changes on either side at the interval, except for Arsenal’s effort. Newcastle got down our right, the defending was half-hearted, the ball was pulled back to the edge of the box and Sissokho buried it into the bottom corner. 1-2.
It was just the start the home side wanted and Ayoze almost equalised a minute later, curling a right footed shot just wide with Ospina scrambling to get across. The Gunners were too static, too much ball watching as Newcastle looked for another goal.
The scrappiness of the game wasn’t helped by a referee allowing lots of fouls to go unpunished, and when Gabriel was pushed over Newcastle were inexplicably given a corner. From that, the ball fell to Gouffran just 8 yards out but his shot was tame and straight at Ospina.
Coquelin was laid out with an elbow to his nose, and with 10 men on the pitch the Colombian goalkeeper kept the scores level with a point blank save from a Sissokho header. The Frenchman came back on with a wad of kleenex up his hooter, but no number on his shirt.
Arsene Wenger made his first changes in the 71st minute with Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky replacing Santi Cazorla and Alexis. After the exertions in midweek it was understandable to an extent but did little to help us retain the ball.
All the pressure came from John Carver’s side, although Welbeck’s fine run caused some danger but he couldn’t pull the ball back to the players supporting. There was a big shout for a Newcastle penalty when Ayoze went down under a Koscielny challenge in the area, but referee Mike Jones waved away the appeals – replays showed there was no contact.
It was relentless at times, made worse by our inability to do simple things with the ball. The second Newcastle goal almost came when a shot deflected towards goal with Ospina having to adjust to save with his legs. A series of corners were heart in mouth before our final sub was made with Welbeck going off for Hector Bellerin.
The Spaniard almost set up Giroud for a hat-trick to seal the game, but the Arsenal defence stood strong. It was a terrible second half but a great three points!
Now an Interlull.
Missed Özil badly
Shitty 2nd half, but solid 3 points
Stop piggybacking the top comment…. who does that?
Anyway, I thought we looked….. 😉
Who does that? People who look for attention.
*whoosh*
Scholes will criticize him for being ill
Or going missing the whole match.
We really did miss Ozil. Throughout the game I kept wondering where he was. Then I heard he was ill. Hope he gets well soon. We’ll need him against Liverpoo
Was “Liverpoo” not a typo? I hope not! *Doffs hat
But does this mean he will not have to play a meaningless friendly for Germany? Le Professeur strikes again ho ho ho
Report posted as fast as the feeling of a ‘comfortable lead’ went away.
Let’s hope they come back fresh from the international break. Pool next, will be tough.
Hoping for a draw United versus Liverpool.
Maybe a Manure win to pull the ladder up? Tricky one!
So I tuned in during the second half. So all I got were shits,sweaty palms and the bitten nails. Thanks arsenal. Seriously though a much needed win to keep up with citeh.
Thats all you deserved for missing the 1st half
Phew. Thank fuck for that. I can enjoy tomorrow’s football that little bit more now.
Dare I say it, we are only 4 points off Chelsea and still have to play them at the Emirates. Granted they have 2 games in hand but it will be interesting to see how they react tomorrow, especially that their form has been pretty below par lately. COYG
Its a big ask for Chelsea to lose enough points for us to leapfrog them…but I guess miracles do happen in football
Just ask Monaco.
That wasn’t a miracle, it was just typical arsenal at our worst
Going back three years from now Ferguson’s United had a very healthy lead, there was absolutely no way City were going to catch up with them. Hmmmmm.
Does anyone remember how many games it took us to close that ten point gap on spurs couple of seasons back?
I guess it was more than 3………..
Does that help?
Just to further my point, if we win all our games until the end of the season (not an easy task, but achievable), we will have 84 points. Chelsea need 20 points from a possible 30 to get to 84. They lose to us, and drop 7 other points, we will probably pip them on GD. Is that possible looking at their form? Yep
Ok ill stop dreaming now
Unfortunately, they normally don’t lose to us with Mou as manager. Let’s go for the championship next year if we can keep playing like we have over the last couple of months.
But according to MaureenO they don’t have the ref on their side anymore….
The way I see it, you can gladly say it’s for Chelsea to lose. On their form, losing to PSG was unexpected after the red card, losing to Bradford was unexpected as well as against Sp*rs and Newcastle. While drawing City and So’ton. Usually our form is terrific after spring sets in. It’s possible, in my opinion, with the difference being that it has more to do with current form while history will say that Chelsea will win it. Football’s history more fickle than Moses in Venice while Noah just went into town. I’m going with the form, if people… Read more »
They’ve had a couple minor blips at best not a loss in form. They still scored 2 against PSG, drew with Burnley and Southampton. Southampton has proven itself to be a challenging team to play so really Burnley is the only real blip and not a big one because they didn’t lose. At best we would expect to drop as many points as Chelsea will if we finish strongly (realistically) and it would really need a phenomenal performance to drop no points (as arseblog pointed out dropping zero points will need breaking some all time club records) and a considerable… Read more »
Well have to go on a 14 game unbeaten streak to get 84 points. That’s never been done in a premier league season. And it includes games against Chelsh*t, Liverpoo and Manure. But then again, nobody had gone undefeated in any premier league season before …
I think you mean 14 game WINNING streak as the set of an unbeaten season includes a 14 game unbeaten streak
“Phew”
You saved me a comment.
Ospina and Coq were great, HFB can’t stop scoring. Deserved, nervy win.
Some great tackles by Coq but some of those loose passes were way too nervy. Did some good defending but I’m starting to think he might need as much of a rest as Alexis for the amount of playing time he’s getting. He probably didn’t think he’d be getting this much time on the pitch!
hes getting such a beating as well. broken nose, then bloodied up again by fellaini and again today! hes a warrior
Well he’s got a couple of weeks off now!
Missed Ozil I think.
Nonsense, he’s an awful player. Scholes said so.
Gingers have no soul.
Difficult second half, though good grafting. Should have killed it off in the first half. Toughed it out, perhaps too many defensive subs.
3 points though!
What a tale of two halves. Another game we seemed to make harder than it should have been.
But in the end, 3 points is what matters.
Wasn’t convinced by chambers. Coquelin struggled in the second half as well. Thought Cazorla and Sanchez struggled the most
Cazorla and Sanchez were quite obviously knackered. Chambers is not a right back.
Chambers will end either as a CB or a CDM, he lacks the pace to be a right back, and get exposed quite often due to that. A shame cause he can get some really good crosses
Thought Chambers did well myself, was part of their goal but that was due to miscommunication as Gabriel doesn’t speak English, as much as anything else. He got up and down the flank pretty well, defended solidly but his positioning is still a little dodgy, mostly cause he seems to have the instincts of a central player.
I hope Chambers will turn into a good player eventually but at the moment he gives the ball away too cheaply and often leaves us exposed on the right-side.
I don’t think he’s ever going to be a natural out there, he doesn’t give the ball away that much imo, but his positioning is a bit dodgy at RB.
Looks like Chambers is paying a small price for his versatilty. With Hector’s emergence, Chambers is effectively our third choice RB since we’ve had to live without Debuchy from some terrible injuries. He’s got the attributes to be an effective DM or CB, but for someone that young to be pressed into service in three positions, in the world’s most physically demanding league with the dodgiest referees in the Milky Way, and it’s not surprising he doesn’t look quite comfortable in any of them yet. Really, the whole squad is looking solid with quality and depth at every. We should… Read more »
If his long term role is central (CDM or CB) he really needs the experience of playing games, even if he gets it as FB it’s necessary for his long term game.
Agreed re Chambers, Bellerin looked so much more assured on and off the ball for the short time he was on the pitch. Chambers is a CB I would think, wouldn’t mind seeing him go out on loan next season to get some CB experience and bringing back Jenks as cover.
Bring back a RB to cover CB, whilst sending a CB out on loan? That seems a little weird.
Especially as Hayden needs experience so must have a loan next season.
Whew! 3 points none the less. I’ll take it
Arsenal looked tired in the second half
Exactly. Really important win coming off the back of a trip to France for the Champions league game. Now hopefully the interlull gives players rest and pls no stupid injuries or knocks pls thanks
Where would you rather go? Scotland?
Ok first half…Dire second half….3 points…Giroud is on fire
Thought it would be far easier than this. But great rearguard action nonetheless. MOTM Ospina.
Wait until he gets rated as 5/10 for some random reason like “cant kick the ball beyond the half line”
He had one absolute beauty that cleared the half way line by about 5 yards. A lovely crisp 7 iron so it was.
For one save? Seems a little generous. Welbeck was rather good and Giroud scored a brace and was a supreme nuisance up front, Ospina was decent but not MOTM.
Wait, it was two saves.
Yes his all around command of the box looked good. It’s the best I have seen Ospina played.
if he didn’t make that one save we would be here bemoaning the fact that we lost two points. It is not the number of saves that matter but the effect of those saves
Phew!!!!!!
11/10 for Bellerin!
I know we won, and I’m fucking glad. Just struggling to understand why in the 94th minute, both our right backs decided it was a good idea to sprint up the pitch to try and get a goal.
Setting ourselves up for another Swansea like result
Good First Half, Awful second half. The Arsenal Way. 3 Points tho, and hoping for United and Liverpool to draw tomorrow
Not good enough. We need to be bossing these games. Why were we loitering on the ball so much? Under high pressure we should be pinging passes around to create space (which is what we are supposed to be good at) but instead everyone seemed to be hanging on the ball just a second to long and being surrounded and/or robbed
Not good enough? We won. It was precisely good enough, especially after a really tough game in midweek.
Honestly.
Apologies. Didnt mean to take anything away from the fact that we won but we really need to finish the season strongly. I just meant that this is the kind of game we should be winning comfortably and it just makes me nervous when the top 4 race is so close.
Well you shit yourself
I think it’s the kind of game we would win comfortably, but I think people forget how hard it is to go away from home in Europe, then in the Premier League, and win both games.
It’s a huge effort. I mean, I share concerns over the second half, it was a bit worrying at times, but in the end at this point of the season it’s all about getting the points and we did.
Now go have a beer!
Agreed!
They pushed hard trying to get that third goal in Monaco, so not surprising those who played that night might be more fatigued than normal. Giroud is one who we would not have been surprised to lose sharpness, because he’s “not world class.” But then he bags a tough brace, the only two goals of the match.
We did pass to the opposition A LOT…just saying
Tha Monaco game wasn’t just ‘tough’, it was bloody demoralising.
This isn’t La Liga where the top teams play attack v defence away from home against the lesser teams. Newcastle are a good side as are most of the teams in the PL. Any win away from home in the PL is a big win, no matter who you support or who it is against.
Its not about being a good side or bad. I can give credit to Newcastle if they were actually playing well but they weren’t really. Arsenal seemed to be indecisive, passing too late, too short getting caught on the ball and just really shaky in the defence. Newcastle took full advantage of this and the referee refusing to book anyone made it worse. My worry is that if we are targeting second place, the second half performance is not going to get us that. Maybe its because of the tough midweek game, but I just hope that we don’t do… Read more »
I agree with Blogs here. Most players looked knackered after midweek game which they put in everything they had. Santi, Giroud andAlexis run themselves to the ground. Also, thier players got away with many vicious tackles. Some other refree would have send off atleast 2 of their players. Any away win after that should be accepted gleefully. Just ask away fans who travel all the way to that shithole and asked to sit right on the top. Players can’t even enjoy with thier fans.
I don’t disagree. After we won at Monaco there seemed to be a lot of negativity about the fact that we shot ourselves in the foot in the first leg rather than focussing on how great the team was on that night. It gave me confidence that we can go on and win most of our remaining league games if we perform like that. But then after doing so well in the first half we seemed to be a totally different team in the second, and my worry is that if we do this against better sides they will punish… Read more »
“Knackered after midweek game” ….ffs! This isn’t Sunday league players!
Thought we defended really well but gave the ball away so often…
Anyway…3pts COYG!
That was fucking horrible. The Mrs has already put the washing on. Which is a shame as I’ll have to wash the brown out my pants by hand now.
Chambers just isn’t a RB, he made Cabella look like freakin Leo Messi out there he got nutmegged so many times. Good three points though, Giroud continues to score goals, but really should’ve been out of sight if Welbeck finished any of his numerous chances in the first half
Cabella is actually a really good player. I at some point though arsenal would go for him but we got a certain Chilean messi instead.
Important win and very bad performance from us. Wenger needs to bring back freshness to the team.
He won’t. He’s waiting for Alexis’ legs to fall off and Santi to drop dead.
Phew thank Christ, missed the 1st half so all I saw was us hanging on. We were never going to be at 100% after the effort at Monaco for 90 mins so it’s a great win. Bit worrying we couldn’t seem to pass the ball more than 4 times in a row in that 2nd half but a win is a win. Giroud having a great season, considering he even missed 3 months of it. Go on Arsenal!
Ameobi and Sissoko were difficult to deal with. Good win, Newcastle can be tricky.
Get in solid performance from the lads this team is going to be hard to beat remainder of this seasonmm
Noo!! Interlull, go away!
Welbeck needs to improve his finishing and decision making quick…Chambers gets me nervous every time he plays right back, otherwise we missed Ozil.
Good solid 3pts. Giroud, keep up the good work! Truly Newcastle’s Nemesis.
Stupid interlull is on Its way now, which mean Alexis can rest. Its all good!
Was half expecting a last minute equalizer but thank god it didn’t happen and we get another vital away win. Now let’s hope for a liverpool and man u draw.
Such a shit 2nd half. But a few players looked knackered. Sanchez shouldnt of started and chambers looks ropey at RB. But none the less a good 3 points…..phew!! Hats of to giroud
Can we get punished for sending out our reserve team in disguise, instead of the real team, at half time? Seems like a big risk to try such subterfuge.
Got the three points. It’s the business end of the season.
Three points from each of the matches is all that matters in the final run-in.
… And another FA Cup!
Hope we do not play like today against Reading otherwise bye bye to the FA Cup title. I do understand that our players depleted their energy at Monaco so there is a valid excuse but I always stick to facts. Don’t know about today’s statistics but it looks to me our overall pass completion rate can be below 50%, same for ball retention. Premier League commentators and pundits ought to recognize Giroud as one of the top strikers of the league. Guys like Berahino and even Studrigde get more plaudits than Giroud and I couldn’t understand this. Giroud is only… Read more »
Severely concerned about the 2nd half. Ramsey and/or Welbeck should have dropped a lot deeper (instead Alexis seemed to get it, but he was clearly knackered)
This was one of those games where I do not understand Wenger. It was clear 10 minutes in to the 2nd half that something needed to be done, either change of shape or subs. In game management non existent, customary 70 minute sub (which worked out well though) Players should have understood the need to drop deeper & flood midfield as well.
Very very frustrating.
I actually felt he shouldn’t have changed it up as much as he did, Rambo was able to play the 90 and him and Coquelin were doing fine in the middle, so just send on Rosicky for Sanchez and then maybe Bellerin for Santi, stop pissing around with chucking Flamini in there.
Agree – the 2nd half performance did not require wholesale changes, it’s just that they needed to happen earlier & they didn’t.
You might have a point, I’m not sure that an earlier sub would have made much difference, as the subs coming on hardly helped us imo, but maybe.
Don’t know how Santi and Alexis made it past the hour mark.
As for Flamini, he should never be seen in an Arsenal shirt again..I like him but The guy is just useless at football.
Bellerin did more in 5 mins than everyone else going forward in that 2nd half
FML
How are we suddenly scoring set pieces . its a miracle
Yeah WTF is happening? SET PIECES? Arsenal we’re talking about right?
Some of us are still used to turning AWAY from the screen at our own corners and free-kicks so as not to be blinded by our mediocrity. Now we have to fix conceding from them as we’re high up in that particular stat table (mostly 1st half of season to blame).
We learned how to take corners so they beat the first man. I’m serious. Look at our corners from the first half of the season and look at them now. That’s what’s changed.
Not surprising that we where bad in second half. Clearly tired after Monaco. Good win!
Heart in mouth is the statement. But at this stage of the season, 3 points is all that matters.
And Giroud isn’t world class???
Well done lads, not our best display by a long shot but boy, are we glad to have held on to grind out a result and bag the full three points! And for those who yap alot of crap about Mesut Ozil’s performance, hope you sorry lot could see how his absence affected us as regards ball retention/possession? Learn to appreciate them while we have them! COYG!!!
Awful second half though. Ran out of expletives as i watched yet another player lose possesion or fail to tackle. Looked very tired but the players stupidly responded by holding onto the ball when there was a man free in front. Particularly awful from Sanchez and Cazorla, but they were visibly knackered. Welbeck and Ramsey started strong but faded VERY badly in that 2nd..Although they both worked hard it looked alot like headless chicken running. Ramsey’s greed to score stopped Giroud getting his hat trick on two occasions. Chambers is not a fucking right back .Constantly out of position, ball… Read more »
I didn’t see Chambers get terrorised, thought more of their play came down our left.
Nutmegged by Cabella/Guiteriez(sp)/Ameobi about 4 times at least. Ameobi constantly beat him on the outside and put crosses in..If it wasn’t for Coquelin and Gabriel always covering him.
He was beaten a few times, that doesn’t constitute ‘terrorised’. If it wasn’t for him covering other players, they’d have been in trouble too, it’s called ‘teamwork’ I believe.
Team looked mentally tired as well as physically tired, which is not surprising as they’ve put in some big shifts in the last few weeks. Ramsey seemed to be in all the wrong places at the wrong times and I’m agreed about Chambers, he was pretty awful and I truly can’t see that he’s an upgrade on Jenks.
He’s not much of an upgrade, Bellerin is though.
Its so obvious when Rambo is ‘forcing’ his game. Like today he was taking too many touches, gave the ball away loads and getting so focused on scoring he took 2 really good chances away from giroud when he was in a poor position.
I see it directly correlated to him being gassed from Monaco – its like his endeavor and eagerness to do well sometimes becomes his worst enemy when he’s fatigued or not fully fit (as in earlier in the season).
Story of Giroud.They say he only scores against London opponents.They say he can’t score in big matches.They say he can’t score consistently.Yet he proved all of them wrong.And I say Giroud is world class.
I’s not his scoring that makes him world class, it’s his team play.
Giroud now has the best G+A/90 in all of the EPL. Better than Costa. Better than Kane. Better than Aguero. Better than Sanchez. Better than Hazard. And better than everyone else too.
Add to that the fact that he is clearly more valuable than any of those other big scorers when it comes to ball retention, duel-winning, and set-piece defense.
Surely that makes him the most valuable forward in the League so far this year, doesn’t it?
Giroud better than aguero in ball rentention?? i’m happy giroud scored, but come on now.
Depends what you mean by ball retention. If you are talking in an Ozil or Cazorla sense in front of the oppo back four then Aguero is your man. If you are talking about engaging the oppo CB’s, holding them off, laying it off to team mates or taking the ball from the air to retain possession then Giroud is your man. Great example today as the clock was ticking to 90mins, Giroud held off two of them, tugging at him for some time, shielding the ball and won the free kick. That in itself, by the time we took… Read more »
All part of the plan. Seal the game in first half, gives them false hope in 2nd half, then watch them burn in agony as they missed all their chances to get an equalizer
A “two away games in a week” type performance and we’ve won them both. For a january signing Gabriel has been gangbusters for us. Sod the performance, feel the points Gunners!
The opposite of COYG should be FOYC (fuck off ye Chelsea )
I’m embarrassed
Can’t believe Cabella did not get a yellow. How many fouls are you allowed in a game?
good win specially for the moral of the team. a scrappy one for sure but 3 points. ramsey is not at his best yet . theo could have had a go instead of welbeck. so two things either the boss thinks welbeck is better so theo is only a subsitute or he is not fully ready but they do not want to say it.COYG !!!! second place can be ours. I don’t think chelskiblues will lose two games before the end of the season….
Watching that 2nd half has left me in a foul mood even though we won. Fuck it 3 points….and what the fuck was Ozil doing hiding out there today. Disgrace.
Wellbeck really needs to work on his balance. Getting tired of him falling or veering over then putting his hand up. Works hard and gets in great positions but has so much more potential. Needs to get the deadly finishing instinct going
Welbeck has so much raw pace and is able to beat defenders pretty consistently. However, his final ball / finishing is woeful!
Really hope he can find that composure when it counts. Could have laid on 2 easy goals for us!
Is it only me that thinks that Theo would relish a game like this. I can’t believe he never got 30 mins.
A player who refuse to defend.. and 9 tired outfields players to babysit him?
Ospina was so so cool under pressure #worldclass
Chambers is a RB. That’s where he played for SOTON. He is even more culpable at Cback where is positioning in an unfamiliar position cost us several goals not to mention gave Per a hangover. When we play Gabriel and Chambers, we are obviously going to carry risk. 1) Chambers has not had that many games at RB with us as Bellerin and is only starting to understand his positioning. 2) Gabriel at the moment is still bedding in. Personally I felt he is at risk of ‘trying too hard’ (much like Koscielny first season) and not composed enough for… Read more »
His positioning seems to suit a central player much more imo, he moves infield a lot more than Bellerin and sits a little too close to the CBs for my liking, I thought his time at CB he did pretty well, but the team was a bit fucked at the time. It will be worked on in time, but he’s a central player, I think.
I think AWs view is ‘why rest Alexis in this game for his national team coach to gain the benefit and still send him back to us injured’.
We were absolutely rubbish in the second half. So glad we held on for the 3 crucial points away from home!
Bloody hell Newcastle looked possesed in the 2nd half. Sumhow we managed to win. Very very nervy win. Giruuu saves us yet again. U keep hating, he keeps scoring. Just a goal behind Costa now (in all competitions) after missing 1st 3 months