Arsenal scrape to vital win over Newcastle United

A frantic end saw Arsenal hold on 1-0 against Newcastle in what proved to be a fiery encounter. Newcastle’s form of late meant that this was by no means a foregone conclusion but the Gunners did enough to maintain their title hopes.

On a weekend where Manchester City and Manchester United ground out 1-0 wins it seems appropriate that Arsenal matched their rivals. Newcastle did their best to level the match and they had a number of chances but they couldn’t find a breakthrough.

Key stats

Arsenal just edged the shots count by ten to nine and they had more shots on target with five. The London side also shaded the possession by 53 to 47 but what the statistics really show us is the closeness of the game. Aside from corners (where Newcastle were up by three) the teams are very evenly matched in every department. The game was close throughout with each team enjoying spells of dominance without taking a firm grip on proceedings.

Man of the Match

Despite the excellent performance of Mathieu Debuchy down the right wing it was Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny who took the man of the match performance. The Polish international made a couple of important saves, including tipping over a rasping effort from Moussa Sissoko.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, he had a couple of lucky escapes, most noticeably when he crashed a clearance into Loic Remy’s face. The rebound avoided the goal but Szczesny was largely impressive.

Performance Score

The Performance Score timeline reflects the game’s openness and cagey nature. The teams started fairly solidly and Arsenal seemed to just about edge the majority of the first-half. However at the break Newcastle had just crept in front although only eight points separated the two sides.

Newcastle dominated the opening fifteen minutes or so of the second half but then Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal the lead on the 65 minute mark. After that Arsenal start to assert their authority and the gap between the two teams at the end was over 140 points.

Key Observations

Mathieu Debuchy made four clearances, three interceptions and won three of his headed duels. His Performance Score of 38 contrasts greatly with that of his opponent; Santi Cazorla (2). Football is a game of individual duels and Debuchy certainly won his.

Yoan Gouffran’s run of scoring at home was ended in this game and he registered a disappointing score of -20. The Frenchman looked off the pace throughout the game and it was no surprise when he was taken off. He lost all three of his tak- ons and he failed to put in a single cross or attempt a shot.

Tomas Rosicky had a very good game in the middle of the park in the absence of Aaron Ramsey racking up the third highest Performance Score of the match with 32. He won both of his take ons and finished with a passing accuracy of 86%. He helped out on the defensive side as well, making two interceptions and winning two tackles.

Mathieu Flamini had a solid game for The Gunners too, the Frenchman won two of his five tackles and won 94% of his passes.