Barclays Premier League: Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal – Arsenal clinch Champions League spot with win

Arsenal sealed Champions League qualification for the 16th successive year with a win at Newcastle today. The Gunners were in control of their own destiny today, knowing that a win would seal qualification, regardless of what Tottenham did at home to Sunderland.

Arsenal started the game in typical Arsenal fashion. They passed the ball around nicely and looked comfortable on the ball. The first chance fell the way of the hosts though, when Papiss Cisse narrowly fired over the bar. The same player went close again just minutes later as Newcastle continued to pose a threat.

The visitors had chances when Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker went close with headers.

Arsenal’s captain on the day Mikel Arteta was a major doubt before the game, but started to the surprise of many, including myself. The Spaniard gave it a go, but after 28 minutes he was replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

A lot of pressure was on Arsenal to win the game and secure a top four finish, but in the first half they didn’t really look like breaking the deadlock.

Lukas Podolski was ruled offside after being played through by Theo Walcott. The German saw his effort saved by Newcastle keeper Steve Harper anyway. Personally I didn’t think it was offside, but Podolski not sticking the ball in the back of the net afterwards made the decision a little less controversial.

It was goalless at both St James’ Park and White Hart Lane as the half time whistles blew. As we were getting updates of what was going on at Spurs, you felt that Sunderland were hanging on a bit and that they wouldn’t hold on for another 45 minutes. So an Arsenal goal was needed to ease the nerves a bit.

They nearly got it straight after the restart. A bad clearance from Harper went straight into the path of Aaron Ramsey, who fed Theo Walcott on the right, but the keeper made amends with a fine stop to deny the England international.

Arsenal wouldn’t have to wait much longer for the goal they so desperately needed though. Walcott whipped in a free-kick that Podolski got some contact on before Laurent Koscielny turned the ball in. Koscielny, who sealed Champions League qualification with a vital goal at West Brom on the final game of the season last year, repeated the trick for a second year running with what turned out to be the winner today.

Koscielny celebrates the goal that seals Arsenal’s qualification into next season’s Champions League.

Picture: Daily Mail.

As the minutes wore on, Arsenal weren’t sure whether to attack or try and hold what they had. In the end, they did a bit of both. A good block from Per Mertesacker prevented Yoan Gouffran from equalising.

Whilst the scores were still 0-0 at White Hart Lane, the Sky Sports cameras caught Tottenham fans celebrating a ‘goal’ at St James’ Park that was supposedly Newcastle’s equaliser. This was the source of much amusement for the Arsenal fans, as Newcastle hadn’t equalised and they were celebrating, believing it to be true, wherever these rumours started from.

Theo Walcott hit the post in the dying minutes, an effort that saw most of the Arsenal players creep onto the pitch, expecting it to hit the back of the net.

Just prior to this, news had come through that Gareth Bale had struck a late winner for Tottenham in their game against Sunderland. Any mistakes now and the Gunners would miss out on the Champions League.

The Arsenal players were unaware of Bale’s goal, but the tension in the Arsenal section grew. The groans for the final whistle surely made it obvious, but Arsenal weren’t under much threat late on.

The final whistle blew and Arsenal had done the job required of them. A 1-0 win was enough to see them qualify for the Champions League yet again under Arsene Wenger and yet again leave Tottenham heartbroken. A real question now for Arsenal’s North London rivals is whether or not they can hang on to their star man, Gareth Bale?. Arsenal couldn’t hang on to Robin Van Persie last year, despite qualifying for the Champions League. It is difficult to see Bale staying at Spurs much longer in honesty, especially after he had a season like this one.

Arsenal looked down and out at the start of March. Spurs went 7 points clear of them when they won the North London Derby on March 3rd. People said that surely, surely this year, Tottenham had done enough to finish above their local rivals and qualify for the Champions League too. Yet again, they let it slip away.

Arsenal have shown real character to fight back and qualify for the Champions League. What they need to do now is build on this. The defence has been superb since Koscielny and Mertesacker became our main pairing. They need to keep this consistency up next season, start next year strongly and keep that form going all year round. They can’t just show up after being knocked out of every competition, like they have both this season and last season.

Last season beating Tottenham 5-2 was the starting point of a revival that saw them claim 3rd place. This year it was a defeat at Tottenham that seemed to do the trick. Arsenal haven’t lost since and that includes a very impressive 2-0 win away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. It’s a shame that they suffered such a bad defeat in the first leg of that tie, otherwise they’d have progressed.

Bayern was the turning point in our season, but defeat away to Tottenham woke the players and manager up. He dropped captain Thomas Vermaelen and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after that game. The Polish goalkeeper regained his place, but Koscielny and Mertesacker have kept Vermaelen on the sidelines. It was needed from Wenger and it is the first time in a long time that he has had the guts to make a decision like that. Dropping your captain based on form is pretty well unheard of these days, but I credit Wenger for doing that with Vermaelen. It helped change Arsenal’s season for the better, without a doubt.

Now it is up to Wenger to get his cheque book out this summer and spend the money that can make us competitive again. I believe he has the funds available now and from what I have heard, he might well actually do it this year. I look forward to seeing what he does. Wayne Rooney, anyone?.

One last note – Happy St. Totteringham’s Day once again, Gooners!. 18 years and counting!.