Arsene Wenger was at last able to
relax and savour an emphatic winning performance — and his name rang around the
Emirates Stadium.
Only a week after Wenger was
verbally abused by a group of Arsenal supporters at a train station on the way
home from a defeat at Stoke, this emphatic win against Newcastle had fans
singing in support of the manager.
Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla
scored two goals each as they overwhelmed Alan Pardew’s team, for whom Ayoze
Perez scored a consolation.
Giroud said: ‘I did not want to talk
a lot about the situation (fans criticising Wenger) because it is always the
same when you’re losing; the man to be criticised is the boss. It’s part of the
job and we have to deal with that.
‘We’ll always be together, keep the
faith, keep working hard and I think there’s no thoughts about changing the
boss as he’s still the man for the situation. It’s nice to hear the fans
supporting him and it’s a fantastic night for us.’
Three points eased the Gunners, who
lie sixth, closer to the Champions League places, but it was the nature of the
performance which will have delighted Wenger.
He said: ‘The most important thing
is that our fans go home happy because we won. I have worked in this country
for 18 years and I am grateful for that, but 99.9 per cent will still have
respect, even when they are not happy, so I can live with the 0.1 per cent.
‘You want the fans to be happy and
when we lose and they are not happy, I completely understand.’
His side, still beset by injuries,
were positive and fluent in attack and scored some wonderful goals, starting
with a header from Giroud after 15 minutes.
Arsenal had not scored in the first
half of their previous six Premier League games but they set off like a team
with a point to prove. Per Mertesacker glanced a header against the bar before
Giroud opened the scoring with a fine header from an Alexis Sanchez cross.
Wenger’s team thought they had the
second within a minute but Danny Welbeck’s goal was ruled out by referee Lee
Mason, who decided the scorer had fouled Daryl Janmaat as he jinked into the
penalty area from the left.
Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote was
fortunate not to be sent off after only five minutes. Tiote followed through
with a waist-high challenge on Sanchez and sank his studs into the Chilean’s
midriff.
Cazorla scored the second soon after
the restart with a deft chip from a tight angle to deceive Newcastle’s
21-year-old goalkeeper Jak Alnwick.
Giroud appeared at the near-post to
flick in the third, before Perez scored with a diving header. Cazorla chipped
in Arsenal’s fourth from the penalty spot.
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