It does not feel that long ago that Arsenal trailed Tottenham by 10 points. What a turnaround there has been. This was a hard-fought victory over a Newcastle team who made a game of it in the second half but, when the dust had settled, the table showed Unai Emery’s team had leapfrogged two points clear of Spurs and Manchester United into third place.
Aaron Ramsey fired Arsenal into a deserved first-half lead and, although Newcastle pushed, they did not threaten Bernd Leno’s goal. Alexandre Lacazette made the points safe with a perfectly executed lob and it added up to a 10th league win in succession at the Emirates Stadium. Not since the 1997-98 title-winning season have Arsenal managed that. “Are you watching Tottenham?” sang the home support.
Arsenal play five of their remaining seven games away from home where they have been far less impressive but right now the momentum in the top-four battle is with them. In terms of the broader picture in this first season under Emery, one detail screamed for attention. The club have made it to 63 points, which was their final tally under Arsène Wenger last time out. The sense of progress is plain.
Rafael Benítez came to contain as he always does in away matches against the top teams. The plan worked in so far as Arsenal did not enjoy the volume of opportunities they might have hoped for. Up until Lacazette’s late goal Newcastle were still in it. There were murmurings of frustration from the Arsenal fans.
The statistics showed Newcastle managed only one shot on target – from Salomón Rondón in the 32nd minute, which Leno saved with a measure of comfort at the near post. Despite pressing higher up the pitch after half-time they could not prise Arsenal apart. The final pass was routinely missing. Newcastle’s dismal recent record in London continues while Benítez has not won at the Emirates in eight attempts with various clubs.
Emery talked up the collective, as usual. He was without the injured Laurent Koscielny and Granit Xhaka while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was fit enough only for the bench, having struggled with a high temperature. But the manager found the solutions, with Ramsey stepping up to wear the captain’s armband with distinction until he was forced off with cramp. The midfielder will be a loss when he joins Juventus in the summer. Aubameyang, meanwhile, came on as a substitute to create Lacazette’s goal.
Benítez commented on how Emery could summon a £56m striker from the bench and what he left unsaid hung heavily in the air. He craves greater backing in the market from the Newcastle owner, Mike Ashley, so he might go toe to toe with the opposition on occasions such as these but there does not seem any prospect of that. And so Benítez plays the percentages; keeping men behind the ball, trying to get something on the break.
Ramsey thought he had scored before he actually did. In the 13th minute he swept home at the far post after Sead Kolasinac had flicked on Mesut Özil’s corner only for the whistle to blow. The replays showed Sokratis Papastathopoulos had pulled back Florian Lejeune by the sleeve. File it under soft.
Ramsey was not to be denied and he made his own luck for the breakthrough, passing to Lacazette and darting for the return. His teammate could not provide it but the ball broke off DeAndre Yedlin and fell to Ramsey, who threaded a low shot into the far corner.
Arsenal were urged on by Emery’s manic preachings from the technical area and they went close to a second goal in first-half added time. The marauding Kolasinac crossed for Lacazette and, when he pivoted to shoot, Martin Dubravka was beaten. Matt Ritchie, however, headed off the line.
Benítez asked his wide players, Ayoze Pérez and Miguel Almirón, to push a little higher in the second half, to get themselves closer to Rondón, and Newcastle gained a foothold. At 1-0 they knew one moment could change everything. It did not come. Aubameyang was denied by Dubravka but there was nothing the goalkeeper could do to keep out Lacazette, after Jamaal Lascelles had misjudged Aubameyang’s through header to the striker.
Emery reflected on how Arsenal had risen from the depths. “We lost our first two matches of the season to Manchester City and Chelsea and so we started last,” he said.
“Now we are third. Our target is very clear but we know it’s going to be very difficult. We now need to convince everybody we can be consistent away from home.”
The Guardian
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