After the disaster during the week against Spurs, and their subsequent DVD release to celebrate, Arsenal fans needed a pick me up. A lot of crap had been spouted in the few days since our Carling Cup exit - much of it in the tabloid press, concerning whether Adebayor hit Bendtner or not, and about Arsene Wenger’s “disrespect” for the Carling Cup. But much crap had also come from Arsenal fans, saying that the Spurs result was the moment that Arsenal got found out, or that it was the end of the road for this squad. And, of course, you can always rely on Spurs fans to come out with a load more bullshit, like claiming that Arsenal had 9 first teamers playing (we had 3 starting, and another 3 came off the bench). So, if Arsenal (and Arsenal fans) needed one thing this weekend, it was to win a football match.This season, if you need to win a football match, you can do a lot worse than play Newcastle, who have been surpassing even their usual standards of underachievement. Now with Kevin Keegan back in charge, their fans had also been talking a lot of rubbish recently, about how they were going to start to challenge for honours. Seeing 5,000 of them in the away end today, virtually all wearing their black and white stripy shirts, reminded me how many of them fall for that, time and time again – they seem convinced that they are going to win something, when that plainly isn't true.
The first half of the game was fairly even, Arsenal creating a few decent chances, but Newcastle also having a few moments where the Arsenal defence seemed to leave them unattended in the penalty area. There were a few decent Newcastle chances, which provoked lots of shouting at the defence to wake up. Goalless at half time, and despite an interesting first half, much of the talk was not about our game, but about how Liverpool managed to go behind twice, at home to a non-league team.
The second half was much less even altogether, and Arsenal really started to stamp their authority on the game, almost as soon as the players re-emerged after half time. Cesc Fabregas in particular, started to look like the player we knew and loved earlier in the season. Having said that, as Arsenal started to become dominant, Newcastle seemed to just retreat into their shells, and their resistance dried up. The first goal came soon enough, a brilliant finish by Emmanuel Adebayor, who went ballistic, and ran to the North West corner of the ground to celebrate.
After that, it was really game over. Despite a sense in the crowd that a one-goal cushion may not be enough, Arsenal never really looked in much danger after that, and the returning Jens Lehmann had one of his easier days in goal. A second goal from Adebayor, after a brilliant run from inside his own half, finished the game as a contest, and underlined what great form he is in at the moment There was just time for a third goal, a hugely entertaining own goal from Nicky Butt, and the Arsenal revival was complete.
In hindsight, this was a good win, against a team with a new manager, who could have caused us problems. To be honest, I had expected a tougher game from Newcastle, which they just didn't seem to be interested in giving us, after the first half hour. With a number of players out at the moment, it was a slight worry (but not a surprise at all) to see Tomas Rosicky taken off with an injury early on – but that aside, it was a good day. With only 6 Premiership teams left in the FA Cup after the 4th round (not including Spurs, who went out the day after this game), we have a great chance to have a good season in the Cup this year. Bring on the next round, and hopefully a nice easy draw.
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