It seems like, at least for Arsenal right now, that a week can be an incredibly long time - especially when you play 3 games in that week. At around 7pm last Saturday, an utterly awful performance at Fulham was capped when Denilson was guilty of an extremely lazy and careless foul throw. At the same time this week, Denilson was busy putting the final touch on the third goal in an emphatic victory, and it was one of the best worked goals you'll see anywhere in Europe this week. How times change.This was a totally different performance to the shambles last week against Fulham. Arsenal dominated the game, played some fantastic passing football, created a hatful of great chances, scored 3 goals, and could have had many more than that. Admittedly Newcastle (much like FC Twente a few days before) made it easier than it should have been, preferring to stand and watch Arsenal pass the ball around them, rather than trying to do much about it. There will be harder games, for sure, but Arsenal's performance here was very impressive indeed.
The first goal came from a penalty awarded when a Newcastle defender had a cross hit his arm in the area. There was some nervousness when Van Persie stepped up to take it, but we needn't have worried, as he absolutely hammered the ball into the bottom corner. If that goal was somewhat routine, the other 2 goals were excellently worked from open play. The second came from a great move, which culminated in a very clever backheel in the area from Eboue (who had a really good, a really surprisingly good game), to leave Robin Van Persie in a position where he couldn't really miss. The third was a similarly good move, great work from Adebayor (who worked really hard all game) to put Denilson in for his first Premiership goal. The Observer report says that Arsene Wenger applauded like a proud father at this point - I didn't see this, but can well believe it.
Other than the goals, Arsenal put together a number of excellent passing moves. Shay Given needed to make a number of saves from Arsenal attacks, and from a few dangerous direct free kicks. In general, the play from the home side was excellent, with some moves having the one touch fluency and flow that Arsenal's play has when they are playing at their best. I'll say it quietly, but some of the play reminded me of 2004 - but helped of course by Newcastle's pedestrian attitude to trying to win the ball back. Most of the Arsenal team had a very good game - even Eboue - with Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor and Gael Clichy impressing in particular.
Once Arsenal had scored the third goal, the game petered out a bit - as Newcastle just accepted defeat, and Arsenal eased off the gas. There was some excitement in the 88th minute, when Joey Barton came on for his first Premiership appearance since being released from jail. Of course, the scumbag got the boos he deserved, and got straight into a robust tackle with Samir Nasri. Nasri clipped Barton's heels a few second later and was rightly booked - this then triggered a stupidly hysterical reaction from Kevin Keegan, who was possibly trying to deflect attention away from his team's shortcomings. As for Nasri, after 3 Premier League games, he is looking more and more like a fantastic acquisition - good runs, great on the ball, goals, and winding up Joey Barton - just the things to make Arsenal fans warm to you. Very promising indeed on the evidence so far.
So, things well and truly back on track, and the Fulham game now looks more like a blip than a sign of disaster to come. But just as things have improved in the last week, so they can quickly deteriorate again. However much they may might deteriorate, they will probably still be better than at White Hart Lane - after watching the highlights of an excellent Arsenal win on Match Of The Day, it was most pleasing to see the League table, featuring Spurs in 20th place, the only team in the Premier League with no points. When things are bad at Arsenal, as they were for sure after the defeat to Fulham last week, it always helps to know that they could be worse - we should thank Tottenham Hotspur for providing regular reminders of that.
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