Arsene Wenger praises efficient Arsenal as the Gunners ease past Newcastle

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's deflected strike was enough to give Arsenal victory over Newcastle

ARSENAL won a game they never looked like losing and but for home keeper Tim Krul and some defiant defending, might have done so more emphatically.

 

At the opposite end, Petr Cech could have taken the afternoon off as 10-man Newcastle were impotent with no shots on target and not even a corner.

Yet Steve McClaren and his players were deservedly applauded off the pitch, while questions remain about the Gunners' title credentials.

Arsene Wenger's verdict afterwards was telling. "Away from home, we have been quite efficient," he said after seeing Arsenal notch up a second successive win on their travels.

Efficiency? Arsenal? Not exactly a label to set Gooners' pulses racing.

 

The visitors were encamped in Toon territory all game but never laid siege. They out-passed Newcastle but rarely sliced through them and in the end, required a lucky deflection to clinch victory when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's shot ricocheted off Fabricio Coloccini.

McClaren's side had been forced to roll up their sleeves and dig in from the moment Aleksandar Mitrovic was sent off after just 16 minutes for a stamp on Francis Coquelin.

And of the six yellow cards referee Andre Marriner dished out to an over-physical Newcastle, at least four of them were merited.

But McClared declared: "There can be no change in our approach. We've got to be like that.

 

"Everybody wants to see the game played that way. You can't take it away. This is what northern people are. They're working-class people and you've got to show spirit, fight, attitude and wanting to win."

Wenger, who hinted at transfer activity in the next 24 hours, claims that once the ratio of goals scored to chances created improves the real Arsenal will emerge.

And while the Gunners still look a shadow of their true selves, midfielder Aaron Ramsey insists it is too early to draw conclusions.

"Hopefully that upset against West Ham will be our only one for a long time and we can go on a winning run now," he said.

"You can't read too much into how the table is looking so far. You have to wait 10 games and then see where you are."

 

NEWCASTLE (4-2-3-1): Krul 8; Janmaat 7, Mbemba 7, Coloccini 7, Haidara 7; Anita 6 (Perez 72), Colback 6; Sissoko 6 (Cisse 79), Wijnaldum 6, Thauvin 6 (De Jong 87); Mitrovic 3. Booked: Sissoko, Mbemba, Thauvin, Anita, Wijnaldum, Coloccini. Sent off: Mitrovic.

NEXT UP: West Ham (a) Sept 14. PL.

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Cech 6; Bellerin 7, Gabriel 6, Koscielny 6, Monreal 7; Coquelin 7, Cazorla 8; Oxlade-Chamberlain 7 (Arteta 81), Ramsey 6, Sanchez 7; Walcott 5 (Giroud 69, 6). Booked: Cazorla.

NEXT UP: Stoke (h), Sept 12, PL.

Referee: Andre Marriner.