Arsenal 4-1 Newcastle: 3 talking points as Arsenal waltz to another 3 points

Arsenal dominated on their return to Premier League action, where their high-intensity brand of football was simply too much for Newcastle. In a game where everyone in an Arsenal shirt was at their very best, Jorginho and Bukayo Saka played starring roles.

After a disappointing midweek where the Gunners failed to threaten in Portugal, fans and pundits alike were expecting a response from a team deep into a second successive title fight. Fuelled by a desire for revenge following a controversial defeat to Newcastle back in November, Arsenal were simply exceptional.

The Gunners flew out of the traps and once again proved their excellence from set-pieces, taking their total set-piece goals to 19 in all competitions with goals from corners beginning and ending the night.

But the architect of much of the success in the game came in the form of Jorginho at the heart of midfield.

Here are the talking points from Saturday night’s victory.

1. Jorginho pulls the strings from midfield

Jorginho came into the side as the only change to the starting XI from midweek and his performance was a testament to the growing strength in depth of Arsenal under Mikel Arteta. The Italian was comfortably one of the best players on the pitch and was exceptional both offensively and defensively.

Jorginho offered stability to the midfield and allowed Declan Rice to play far more progressively than he would usually be able to. In turn, this allowed Rice to press higher up the pitch. Arsenal exploited this superbly, especially in the first half, and were able to pin Newcastle into a defensive shape.

The midfielder attempted over 100 passes and found his man with a near 100% success rate, achieving 91 successful passes from 103 attempts. He was key in unlocking the Newcastle defence, which we had noticeably struggled to do in midweek against Porto.

One of these passes was a fantastic lofted ball to find Gabriel Martinelli which resulted in Arsenal’s second goal of the evening and Martinelli’s first goal involvement since the home win against Liverpool.

While it is unfair to say that Leandro Trossard deserved to be dropped, Jorginho certainly proved he deserves a spot in the starting line-up, and when he is on form, he makes football look easy.

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