Wenger got it right on the night

A few minutes later, Alex the Great was able to deliver a replica of the Merseyside ball to Robin, but his choice of a chest control allowed the recovering defenders to put him off and the chance was gone. With Tiote and Song rekindling their African rivalry in the middle of the park, it was fast developing into a game of midfield supremacy and the Gunners were sure having the upper hand. Theo on the other hand was having his constant duel with Santon, who showed great pace to deny Theo from getting on his bike to wreak havoc as the proceedings unfolded. Walcott kept on running at their full-back with lots of joy and with all of our attacking threat running through him this meant a certain anonymous first half for Ox-Chambo.

It was not until the 14th minute that the game took a bizarre twist.

Verma sent a clearance straight to Demba Ba with the ball dropping for Tiote who found Ben Arfa in space down the right, who in turn dropped his shoulder to create space, left Gibbo for dead and put the ball on his favourite left foot. His subsequent shot was too quick for Shezzer to handle at the near post and bang! Newcastle were one ahead, albeit against the run of play.

Arsenal were left stunned by their opponents. The Gunners were not going to take this lying down and 53 seconds after the restart, Rosicky found Theo in space down the right and squared the ball to Robin, who deftly controlled and dropped his shoulder to put the ball past Tim Krul. 1-1.

Van Persie shot straight at Krul off a free-kick from the edge of the box and it was one half chance after another until Theo shot feebly off a corner from Chambo’s boot only for his effort to be cleared by Simpson on the line. The half ended level and both sides must have been pleased for different reasons – Arsenal with their performance and Newcastle with the score-line considering they’d been on the back-foot for a larger part of the half.

At the restart, Pardew decided Santon had taken enough of a bashing from Theo and he responded by sending on Perch in place of the Italian defender. Wenger’s side notched up the tempo a little more, with Theo and Tomas being the liveliest attacking threats for them. Theo sent in a teasing ball into the centre which Tomas met with a glancing header only to have Krul parry it to safety. Chambo was beginning to make his presence felt in the game, as he drove past two players only to see his effort well wide off the mark. With Tomas picking out Theo, who’s attempted cross was blocked and the former able to pick out Arteta with the follow up, Van Persie was on hand to connect with the cross, but his shot was straight at his countryman.