Our 3️⃣ points as Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle with minimum fuss | OneFootball

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Alex Mott·2 May 2021

Our 3️⃣ points as Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle with minimum fuss

Article image:Our 3️⃣ points as Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle with minimum fuss

Arsenal warmed up for their Europa League semi-final next week with a comfortable 2-0 win over 10-man Newcastle.

Goals from Mohamed Elneny and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave the Gunners a routine win at St James’ Park with the home side still not safe from relegation.


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Minimum fuss

Article image:Our 3️⃣ points as Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle with minimum fuss

As far as dress-rehearsals go, this was about as good as it gets for Arsenal.

Their Europa League semi-final on Thursday has undoubtedly been the focus of attention but it was still important to get three points here and go into that clash with Villarreal with momentum.

The Gunners did that with minimum effort here as the Magpies failed to really put up a fight.

An early goal from Mohamed Elneny killed the encounter after only six minutes as the home team failed to test Maty Ryan in the Gunners goal.

Gabriel Martinelli impressed in attack while Willian looked sharp for the first time in a while.

Thoughts now, will turn to later this week and Arsenal’s huge encounter with the Yellow Submarine.


The old conundrum

Article image:Our 3️⃣ points as Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle with minimum fuss

Arsenal’s most important game, not just of this season, but of the Mikel Arteta era takes place next Thursday.

The Gunners host Spanish side Villarreal in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final, and go into the clash trailing 2-1 on aggregate.

It’s not exaggeration to say that the result in that clash could determine Mikel Arteta’s future and could have a seismic impact on the club for the next few years.

So the fact then, that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started here at St James’ Park tells you just how astonishing his fall from grace his been since the start of the season.

On September 16, 2020 it was finally confirmed that the Gabon international had put pen-to-paper on a new three-year deal that would make him the best-paid player at the club and one of the most remunerated in the Premier League.

Article image:Our 3️⃣ points as Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle with minimum fuss

Since then, it’s been a remarkable decline from lynchpin to bit-part player.

It was an inauspicious performance from the 31-year-old that left many pondering about his greater role in this side.

A 67th minute goal doubled the Gunners lead but it was a brief bright spot in an otherwise turgid performance.

Just 33 touches in the entire game, no dribbles completed, no aerial duels won.

But, crucially, one goal scored.

Can Arsenal accommodate a striker that contributes almost nothing outside the penalty area but scores one in every three games?

I guess the true answer to that will come on Thursday.


What is ‘success’?

Article image:Our 3️⃣ points as Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle with minimum fuss

Newcastle knew that a win here would essentially keep them in the Premier League for another season, going 12 point clear of 17th place Fulham with four games of the season to go.

But as has been the case for most of this campaign, the Magpies laboured through the occasion, going five at the back, having 35 per cent possession and completing just five key passes in the entire 90 minutes.

Even with star striker Callum Wilson back from injury and Allan Saint-Maximin in excellent form, Steve Bruce’s side struggled to create any real chances of note and never really troubled this makeshift Arsenal defence.

It seems that the Magpies will stay in the division though, not because of their performances but because three other sides have been slightly worse.

Is that good enough?