Arsenal underlined its place in this year’s English Premier League title race with a statement 4-1 win against Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The game against one of the richest clubs in world football was a potential banana-skin, especially considering Arsenal was coming off the back of a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Porto in the Champions League just days before.
But when the chips were down, Arsenal’s players stepped up to produce one of the best performances from any team in the league this year. It was a victory full of swagger and a warning shot to its title rivals.
“We are all living the dream, we have all been dreaming of being here on the biggest stage in the best league in the world,” Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard told TNT Sports after the match.
“You see every week how competitive it is, how good it is, and that is where we want to be. We want to fight for trophies and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Arsenal now sits just one point behind second-placed Manchester City and two points off league leader Liverpool.
And courtesy of scoring 18 goals in its last four league games, the North London club also boasts the best goal difference in the division, possibly an important factor as this year’s title race looks set to go down to the wire.
Saturday’s win against Newcastle was so much more than just an emphatic scoreline.
Arsenal looked imperious in almost every aspect of the match, smothering its opponent and creating chance after chance in front of its boisterous home fans.
In the past, Newcastle has been a side that has overpowered Arsenal, but there was little sign of that in their latest meeting.
The only surprise from a full-throttle first-half was that Arsenal only led by two – courtesy of a fumbled own goal and a superb team move finished off by Kai Havertz.
Newcastle’s players looked desperate to get into the locker room at half-time for some temporary reprieve from the onslaught and looked slightly better as the second period got underway.
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