Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD- Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle United

MOTD- Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle United

By on April 28, 2014

Arsenal seemed to have dug themselves in a hole that looked to have all but ended their run of qualifying for the Champions League for sixteen consecutive seasons.  With thrashings from Chelsea and Everton, and draws with Swansea City and Manchester City, the season in which everything had finally been going right for Arsene Wenger’s side went array.  The Gunners were knocked off the top of the league, a position that they had held for over one-hundred-and-fifty days, lost their chance at their first Premier League title in nearly a decade, and worst of all found their chances of a Champions League fourth place finish in the hands of others.

However, Wenger has proved that he has not lost his touch by taking Arsenal back out of fifth place into the top four, and as a 3-0 victory over Newcastle United gives them a five point cushion in that position, as little as one win from their last two league matches of the season would mathematically seal them a Champions League spot.  Arsenal even have a chance to end their near nine-year trophy drought in an FA Cup final against Hull City.  Not only that, but the English side now have two consecutive three goal wins behind their backs heading into their crucial last three matches of the season.  And with the win over Newcastle tonight, confidence in their manager, style of play and ability to get the result.

Although there was a slow start to the match, Arsenal dominated possession in the opening minutes of the game. It took over a quarter hour, but Arsenal quickly started to turn that possession into chances. Sixteen minutes in they were inches away from taking an early lead when Mesut Ozil poked a low effort wide of the near post after Tim Krul failed to meet a corner from the right, so when Laurent Koscielny actually managed to find the back of the net in the twenty-sixth minute it was no surprise. It wasn’t a picturesque goal – Koscielny simply ran in behind the Newcastle defense before tapping Santi Cazorla’s free-kick past Krul – yet it sent Arsenal into a frenzy.

Seconds later Lukas Podolski cut a low shot deflected off the charging Krul across the face of goal and wide of the right-hand post after finding himself slipped in down the left wing, and forced the goalkeeper into another brilliant save a half hour in to parry away the German’s bullet six yard header via a corner. While Cheick Tioté then saw Newcastle’s first sight if goal with a screaming thirty-five yard shot a minute later, Arsenal finally doubled their lead with five minutes remaining in the half. Olivier Giroud was sent clear through on goal down the right channel, and although he looked to have wasted the chance by firing two horrid efforts straight at Krul, he cut the ball back to Ozil for the midfielder to finish if off.

Arsenal took a 2-0 lead into the half, and although Yoan Gouffran really should have diminished that lead when Loic Remy slipped the Frenchman in on goal, Wojciech Szczesny got behind the midfielder’s low shot. A goal for Newcastle would have turned the game on its head, yet Arsenal made the visitors rue their missed opportunity by putting the match to bed sixty-six minutes in as Giroud flicked Ozil’s cross from the right into the top right corner at the near post. That goal sealed Arsenal the three points, and with just three more they will be in the Champions League next season.
Man of the Match: Mesut Ozil

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.