Arsenal Vs Newcastle United: 5 things we learned

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NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 15: Ayoze Perez of Newcastle United (L) is challenged by Shkodran Mustafi of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Arsenal FC at St. James Park on September 15, 2018 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) /

2. What about a clean sheet?

Five games gone. Still no clean sheet. This time, it came in the final minute of the match as Ciaran Clark thumped a header past Petr Cech for the eighth goal conceded of the season already. It was disappointing to see once again, even if the game may have been over at that point.

Defensively, this was probably Arsenal’s best performance — it wasn’t a good defensive performance, not by any means, but it was better than the recent tripe that they have been putting out. Sokratis was very good, both full backs weren’t completely exploited as in recent matches, and, in the second half especially, Newcastle created very little indeed.

But there were still plenty of weaknesses to work on. Shkodran Mustafi had a horribly off day, there was very little pressure on Newcastle’s delivery, the marking was lapse as the game wore on, and Jacob Murphy did get in behind Hector Bellerin on one too many occasions to be comfortable. It would be nice to get a clean sheet sometime soon.

Arsenal Vs Newcastle United: 5 things we learned – Game of two halves

By Andrew Dowdeswell | Sep 15, 2018

2. What about a clean sheet?