Five key talking points from Arsenal’s win at Newcastle

The opening fixture of matchweek 4 was an entertaining encounter between Arsenal and Newcastle, yet dull on the goalscoring front. An own-goal from Toons’ captain Fabricio Coloccini was enough to ensure that the Gunners took 3 points back to London.

The match was marred by an awful lot of infringements by the Newcastle players but the North-London outfit was still able to create a lot of goalscoring chances. Here are the five key talking points from the match.

1.  Arsenal still have the best attacking midfielders in the league

Another edition in the Premier League, and yet another extremely creative midfield for Arsenal. The Gunners still possess the most deadly attacking midfielders in the league and the most technical of playing styles in all of Europe.

The Gunners have created more chances than any other team this season until now and have had more shots on goal than any other outfit. Outstanding vision coupled with immaculate passing has been their strength for many seasons and will continue to be.

2.  Arsenal need a top-class striker 

With every passing matchweek it is becoming more and more visible how the team is crying out loud for reinforcements in the striker department. Having had the most number of attempts on goal this season they have the scored just 3 goals in 4 games out of which 2 are own-goals.

It has become pretty obvious from their displays that they need a striker with a high work-rate, speed and strength to fire them to the title. If not Karim Benzema then many many alternatives are still available who might galvanize their creative midfield ahead of what could be a crucial set of fixtures for the club.

3.  Can Newcastle get results from the same approach in every game?

For the third consecutive match, Newcastle played with the same physical approach even though they have a wealth of attacking options. The game was so physical that it forced the referee to draw cards on more than 70% of Newcastle fouls.

In each of the last 3 matches they faced creative sides( Swansea, Manchester United and Arsenal) and each time they were torn apart into fragments. Steve McLaren has to take note of their disciplinary record and their first choice striker Aleksander Mitrovic, as his reputation has followed him to the Premier League.

4.  Andre Marriner has yet another controversial match

There were visible signs of exhaustion on Andre Marriner’s face during the dying moments of the game. You’ve got to feel for the guy as Newcastle conceded foul after foul and card after card. Though many of his decisions were spot on, many of his decisions were highly controversial too.

Arsenal were denied a penalty during the first 12 minutes of the game when Bellerin was brought down and one could argue how harsh a decision it was to give Mitrovic the red card. But Marriner had a troubled afternoon at St. James’ park while refereeing yet another Arsenal match. Overall the referee gave 23 fouls, 7 yellow cards and 1 red card.

5.  Expect signings during the last days for Arsenal

It seems like a growing concern among the Gunners faithful that this season would be yet another disappointing one. Where a strong end to the season would still see them go empty handed with their poor start to blame, there is still an opportunity for Wenger to splash the cash and bring in a few fresh faces that would make a difference.

In ideal circumstances the Gunners would benefit from adding a defensive midfielder and a striker before the deadline day but only an addition up-front would also make a huge difference to their title charge. Wenger is known for last ditch signings. Another Ozil-esque signing maybe?