Arsenal: Who knew that football could be so much fun?

Arsenal’s match against Newcastle was something no Arsenal match has been in ages—it was fun. And nowhere will you see a better example of the spectrum this club is possible of.

Coming off a tragically boring Burnley match, the Emirates had some empty seats. More than some. Arsenal were clearly making their point. This hasn’t been fun. It’s been nice, getting those clean sheets, but it hasn’t been much fun. No goals, an average of nine attempts per goal… meh.

And the start against Newcastle was more of the same. There were groans around the Emirates as the hosts weathered the Magpie’s attacks while mustering no significant threat of their own. It wasn’t until about the 35th minute that things began to change. We began to see something.

The second half was fun. For the first time in awhile, Arsenal had fun, the fans had fun, I had tears in my eyes—it was all something else. And it all came on the back of an inauspicious start that was looking conspicuously like another 0-0 draw.

Instead, the Gunners blazed to a 4-0 win, instigated in large part by two guys who have not been called on to supply the fun they are here to supply—Nicolas Pepe and Dani Ceballos.

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These two were tremendous. Ceballos touched the ball more than anyone else, he passed with painstaking precision, he was a difference maker. He made runs off the ball, which are fun in and of themselves, and he was everywhere. Defense, offense, all of it.

Nicolas Pepe, meanwhile, supplied three of the five goals, and instigated the attacking move that produced another. Four goals, all supplied by this man, who is supposedly overpriced and overrated. Right.

Pepe made this second half fun. Even once Ceballos came off and thus, his fresh supply of fun, Pepe kept attacking. He kept making those runs that got a bit clogged up early on and what resulted was truly exciting. I feel like an idiot saying this, but after that match, I felt like we won a trophy or something. We had played so well, so convincingly, and so foot-on-the-gas, if only just for half an hour or so. It was still what we knew this club was capable of, but what we hadn’t yet seen under Arteta.

What this means going forward is yet to be seen, but we know now how fun it all can be, and that’s good enough for me. For now.