Arsenal vs Newcastle player ratings: Last summer’s dream

9.7. <strong>Man of the Match</strong>. Tremendous game. Shut the haters up. Robbed of an assist on a missed sitter, but got one minutes later on Aubameyang’s header. Nabbed a goal of his own two minutes later. Had a lot of tremendous defensive work as well. And it was good, quality defending, not just a matter of him being there. Reliable set-piece delivery. Wanted to see him try a little more rambunctious attacking, to take on defenders, but he resorted to combining with teammates, which worked out pretty well in itself, especially later on, when it was his work off the ball that earned him his merits. Let me also just say again that his defensive work was tremendous. He helped out Bellerin immensely. Added that second assist at the end too. So, so worth the money.. RW. Arsenal. NICOLAS PEPE

PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG. 8.4. Great work tracking back and defending, providing a potentially crucial stop on an early Newcastle corner. At the other end, he was a non-factor. Mostly because he isn’t a winger. Go figure he scored his goal in a very striker way, being in the box, in front of goal, and nodding home an effortless header.. LW. Arsenal

Had nothing to do early on. There was no service. He dropped back to get more involved, but there was nothing there. You could tell how eager he was to get on the ball and take his chances. When the opportunity was there, he did everything he could to take it, there just wasn’t much there. Had a sitter from beautiful attacking play in the 50th minute but skimmed the crossbar. Had another opportunity to smash at goal after the two goals were scored, but squandered the chance. Just needs to bolster his confidence. He could have come out of this with two goals. Good effort though.. ST. Arsenal. EDDIE NKETIAH. 6.2