Arsenal vs Newcastle United. Premier League.
Emirates StadiumAttendance60,188.
Report and free highlights as Aubameyang, Pepe, Ozil and Lacazette secure first league win since New Year's Day
Sunday 16 February 2020 22:33, UK
Arsenal produced a devastating second-half blitz to see off Newcastle 4-0 at the Emirates and arrest a run of four successive draws in the Premier League.
The Gunners spent the majority of the first half on the back foot but sprung to life after the break thanks to a brilliant Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang header and Nicolas Pepe's fourth league goal of the season in the space of three minutes.
Ciaran Clark spurned a glorious chance to halve the deficit and Allan Saint-Maximin struck the post as Newcastle failed to get off the canvas after Arsenal's quick-fire double.
The Magpies were made to pay late on as Martin Dubravka spilled Mesut Ozil's late shot over the line and Alexandre Lacazette rifled in a fourth as the Gunners climbed to 10th - three points and two places ahead of Newcastle - with their first league win since New Year's Day.
Mikel Arteta hoped Arsenal's winter break in Dubai would kick his players into gear after a run of four successive league draws but there was no indication of improvement as Newcastle dictated a first half of frustration for the Gunners.
Dani Ceballos' blushes were spared on 14 minutes when Bernd Leno produced a reaction save to prevent the Spaniard from scoring a calamitous own goal after he deflected Matthew Longstaff's volley from a corner with his head.
The Newcastle chances kept on coming at a pace that would have concerned Arteta, the dangerous Saint-Maximin's cutback poked wide at the near post by Joelinton on the quarter-hour mark.
Bukayo Saka tried to ignite Arsenal's challenge with a curling effort that flashed inches wide of the angle of post and bar, but the error-strewn Arsenal performance continued up until the closing stages of the first half, where the Gunners looked to have finally settled into an attacking rhythm.
Aubameyang and Eddie Nketiah drew comfortable saves from Dubravka before Aubameyang saw a drive deflect agonisingly wide off Clark. And there was still time before the break for Pepe forced a fingertip save from the Newcastle goalkeeper with a dipping free-kick.
The Arsenal improvement turned into an onslaught after the restart. Nketiah spurned the Gunners' best chance of the game on 50 minutes, clipping the top of the crossbar after Pepe weaved into the Newcastle area and cut a great ball back.
But the Arsenal frustration dissipated in an instant on 54 minutes when Pepe's floated cross was headed back across goal by captain Aubameyang to finally unlock the Newcastle defence.
One became two three minutes later, the trickery of Saka on the left bewildered Newcastle debutant Valentino Lazaro and his cutback was clinically dispatched by Pepe.
Newcastle should have reduced the arrears on 63 minutes, but Clark sliced a gilt-edged chance wide from six yards, and by the time Saint-Maximin struck the base of the post with a quarter of an hour remaining, it was clear it was not the Magpies' day.
And things turned sour late on for Steve Bruce's side as Dubravka's spilled Ozil's shot into his own net and Lacazette got in on the act to confirm a chastening trip to the capital for the Magpies.
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta: "We said before the game that we wanted to put draws into wins, and the home form is going to be vital if we want to achieve anything important this season. We started to manage the game better after 25 minutes and at half-time we had a talk, afterwards, we improved a lot in the second half."
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce: "If we're going to be honest, the disappointing thing is the manner of the goals we gave away. It was so not like us - they were too easy, and for an hour, we've been where we've been all season. We didn't start the second half like we should have done, and we've gone sloppy, giving away awful goals, which has not been us. We've got to take it on the chin and move forward."
Bukayo Saka has assisted eight goals in all competitions this season for Arsenal - more than any team-mate in 2019-20. Indeed, he has more assists than any other Premier League teenager this season.
Arsenal travel to Olympiakos for the first leg of their Europa League round-of-32 tie on Thursday at 8pm, before hosting Everton on Super Sunday at 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports Premier League. Newcastle, meanwhile, return to London next Saturday at 3pm to take on Crystal Palace.
