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Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud strikes twice to deflate battling Newcastle | Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud strikes twice to deflate battling Newcastle |
(about 2 hours later) | |
So Arsenal continue to keep Manuel Pellegrini and perhaps even José Mourinho sweating while Newcastle United sleepwalk their way towards the end of a deeply unsatisfactory season? Well, not entirely; sometimes scorelines fail to tell quite the whole story. | |
Despite a combination of injuries and suspensions to key personnel leaving John Carver’s side with a distinctly ersatz look, Newcastle were not quite so makeshift in practice. Indeed Arsène Wenger was probably extremely relieved to escape with three points on a day when Olivier Giroud’s two first-half goals following set pieces kept Arsenal four points behind the leaders Chelsea and only one in arrears of second-placed Manchester City. | |
“The last 40 minutes were difficult,” acknowledged Wenger. “Newcastle played very well in the second half.” Tired after their midweek Champions League exertions against Monaco, his team faded as the day wore on but still did just enough to record a sixth straight Premier League victory and remind everyone they are not about to settle for staying third. “We are in the fight,” he said. “We want to do as well as we can.” | |
With Daryl Janmaat outstanding in an unfamilar central defensive role, Newcastle succeeded in surprising some of their own supporters. “There wasn’t much in it until we conceded the first goal,” said Carver. “It’s always disappointing to lose to two set-piece goals but we showed we’re not on our holidays yet. And we also showed that, even when you’re down to the bare bones, if you prepare and set up properly you give yourselves a chance.” | |
All pace, possession and intelligent movement, Newcastle began deceptively brightly. Then Jack Colback, Carver’s left back for the day, played it short to Vurnon Anita. The midfielder should have been able to move the ball forward but, seemingly unsure what to do, he unwisely passed back to Colback who was now under pressure from Giroud. | |
Colback was left with little option but to impede the Arsenal striker and concede a free-kick. Up stepped Santi Cazorla and in curved the set piece, allowing Danny Welbeck to flick on before Giroud directed the ball over the line with his left knee. | Colback was left with little option but to impede the Arsenal striker and concede a free-kick. Up stepped Santi Cazorla and in curved the set piece, allowing Danny Welbeck to flick on before Giroud directed the ball over the line with his left knee. |
It was not long before Wenger’s French centre-forward scored again. This time Cazorla whipped in a corner and Giroud got across his marker before squeezing a header into the far bottom corner. It was his 17th goal in 26 appearances this season and eighth in six games against Newcastle. | |
Considering his back four comprised a midfielder who has spent much of the past few years battling serious injury (Ryan Taylor) at right-back, a right-back (Janmaat) at centre-half and a midfielder (Colback) at left-back, Newcastle were probably doing as well as could be expected in the circumstances. Much more acclaimed positional specialists have struggled similarly in the face of Cazorla, Alexis Sánchez, Giroud and friends. Not that this reality prevented an initially buoyant 50,000-plus crowd from booing the home team off at the interval. The Gallowgate End wanted to see David Ospina’s goal put under much more pressure. | |
Happily for Carver, Moussa Sissoko changed the narrative right at the start of the second half. Cued up by a wonderful one-two involving Ayoze Pérez and Rémy Cabella, the midfielder’s low, first-time, right-foot shot whizzed past Ospina as Arsenal suddenly found themselves firmly on the backfoot. | |
Wenger’s players looked winded in the face of Sissoko’s all-round dynamism and Newcastle’s collective powers of counterattacking acceleration. They might have conceded an equaliser had Pérez not dispatched a curling 25-yard shot fractionally wide and again when the same striker miscued an inviting shooting chance. | |
No matter: the momentum was with those wearing black and white and the choruses of Blaydon Races echoing around the ground confirmed the mood had transformed almost beyond recognition. | |
With Jonás Gutiérrez offering the Tynesiders further impetus after replacing Anita and Janmaat’s classy ease in possession frequently discomforting a thwarted Arsenal attack, a home equaliser would have been thoroughly deserved. | |
Instead Carver and company were left all out of luck as Wenger kept on confounding those doubters who, until very recently, claimed he had overstayed his welcome in north London. How wrong can you be? | |