Theoretically, fans of a team who win games of football should be happy at the end of them. But at the close of Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Newcastle, the most positive emotion you could sense around the Emirates was relief. Many of those present had shuffled out to do something rather better with their Saturday evening before the end: after the final whistle the PA announcer’s suggestion that the highlights of the game would be available on the big screen wasn’t met with any great enthusiasm. A moment of brilliance decided the game, with Mesut Özil’s superb first-half volley not really representative of the other 89 minutes of action. Beyond that, Arsenal displayed what has broadly...
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