Rampant Arsenal continued to hot on the heels of the top two in the title battle with a resounding 4-1 victory over a struggling Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday at a spectacular Emirates Stadium.
An own goal from Sven Botman and a simple shot from Kai Havertz put the home team 2-0 up at half-time after a siege on the Newcastle goal before Bukayo Saka and Jakub Kiwior scored in the second half to add comfortably. points.
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Arsenal's sixth consecutive Premier League win this year took Mikel Arteta's third-placed side to 58 points after 26 games, two behind leaders Liverpool and one point behind Manchester City, who earlier won 1-0 at Bournemouth.
“It is crucial to win games and we have to press [Liverpool and Manchester City] and that's what we will do,” scorer Havertz told TNT Sports. “The fans give us so much energy which is very important for us, it gives us a big boost.”
Arsenal opened the scoring after 18 minutes when the ball bounced off the knee of Newcastle defender Botman and into his own goal after a move on goal after goalkeeper Loris Karius saved a good header from Gabriel from a corner .
Six minutes later, the score was 2-0 when Havertz slotted the ball in from the edge of the six-yard box following a cutback by Gabriel Martinelli on the right touchline after a clever pass from Jorginho left the Newcastle defense exposed again. .
Arsenal's dominance was reflected in their 64% possession in the first half with 12 attempts on goal, including four on target, while Newcastle failed to register a shot in the first half of a Premier League match for the first time since March 2014.
Saka put the game ahead for the visitors with Arsenal's third in the 65th, his 13th in the league this season, when he ran down the right and cut inside before firing into the far corner before Kiwior headed in a corner by Declan Rice to make it 4-0.
Former Arsenal striker Willock got Newcastle on the scoreboard with a fine looping header into the far corner after 84 minutes following Dan Burn's pinpoint cross, but by then it was too late for Eddie Howe's faltering side. .
Arsenal have scored 15 goals in their last three Premier League games and the win over Newcastle was the perfect tonic after their late 1-0 defeat to Porto in a disappointing first leg of their League last 16 tie. of Champions in the middle of the week.
“I think it was very important [to win] It was a tough game on Wednesday. [in Portugal] and we wanted to win today; “We did well today,” Havertz added.
The defeat leaves Newcastle in eighth place with 37 points.
“Arsenal were very good, we weren't and we were punished,” Howe said. “We were bad in most aspects of our games, we didn't do the basics right.”
