The real class of Arsenal

The match against Newcastle was of paramount importance to Arsenal after its youngsters' abysmal display the previous week against Tottenham in the Carling Cup semi-final.

With one less silverware possible, Arsenal must win against Newcastle to continue its journey towards a treble-winning season, with all the other competitions still en-route. As the fixture set up to play Newcastle back to back in both the FA Cup and the Premier League, a win at the Emirates will send Newcastle back with a dip in confidence to ensure that the Gunners can keep up the title race with Manchester United as the 2 teams are currently level on points with United ahead on goal difference.

With Manchester United set to play Tottenham the next day (United won 3-1 despite Tottenham taking the lead through Robbie Keane), a win here will send the right message to Ferguson and team that the 5-1 loss was by the reserve team, hardly in the same class as the regular 11, and they should expect nothing less from the latter when they meet next. More importantly, it will also send the right message to United, who was to become their adversary in the next round of the FA Cup.

Despite a slow start in the first half against a revitalised Newcastle under new old manager Kevin Keegan, Emmanuel Adebayor finally broke the deadlock in the 51st min and added a second in the 83rd min. Nicky Butt ended Keegan's dream first return to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium when he headed in an own-goal with Eduardo applying pressure.

Despite the win, Arsenal was not playing to their best as they seemed to lack urgency as was the case in the previous few matches. Newcastle, on the other hand, was determined to present their alleged saviour with a welcoming gift and never hit the brake, even though they were 3-0 down. They continued fighting till the final whistle but in the end Arsenal was simply too much for them to handle.

With a tight and difficult schedule ahead, Newcastle (Tuesday), Man City (Saturday), Blackburn (Monday), Man Utd (Sat), AC Milan (Wednesday) and Birmingham (Sat), with 2 matches per week for the next 3 weeks, Arsène Wenger had to select his players carefully. Still missing key players through the African Nations' Cup and injury, the Arsenal team saw Lehmann come in for Almunia in goal, Justin Hoyte and Philippe Senderos for Kolo Toure and Bacary Sagna in defence Abou Diaby for Helb in midfield and Theo Walcott for Van Persie in attack. To add salt to injury, Tomas Rosicky limped off in the 9th min to add to the injury list and was replaced by the in-form Eduardo.

The next 3 weeks will put Arsenal to the mettle as they sought to reclaim the title after 3 seasons and break the record of getting a Treble win.