Arsenal continued their recovery from their opening day loss, taking all three points at St James’ Park thanks to Newcastle captain Fabricio Coloccini’s own goal.
The Magpies’ challenging start to the season continued, though, and they were dealt a further blow with Aleksandar Mitrovic picking up and early red card.
It leaves Steve McClaren’s side just outside the bottom three on goals scored, with two points from four games, while Arsenal’s win takes them 5th.
Here’s what we learned from the close-fought game.
Arsenal need a striker – now
Today was Theo Walcott’s chance to stake his claim for a starting spot up front. The England man has a great record against Newcastle but even he couldn’t find a breakthrough.
Olivier Giroud offered a little more but didn’t fare a whole lot better after coming off the bench, so if Arsene Wenger wanted an excuse to dip into the transfer fund for a proven goalscorer, this was it.
The question is: who? Karim Benzema has said quite spectacularly that he’s not coming, while one-time target Alexandre Lacazette has renewed his Lyon contract. Time and options are running out.
Newcastle need to heed early warnings
It looked as though the home side came into the game with half an eye on getting stuck into their opponents, and that’s a fine point from which to start.
But Andre Marriner gave them the biggest hint possible that such an approach wouldn’t be tolerated by putting Moussa Sissoko’s name in the book inside five minutes.
That should have been their cue to ease off, but Mitrovic’s red-card challenge came less than 15 minutes later and the Toon Army could easily have ended with fewer than 10 men.
Mesut Özil is more important than some would care to admit
He might have become the butt of opposing fans’ jokes, but it’s clear that Mesut Özil makes a difference to Arsenal’s cohesion.
The German missed out through injury, and his absence was certainly felt as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain struggled away from his contribution to the winner.
A new striker might be more crucial, but the Gunners will need their record signing fit and firing too – you can’t rely on Alexis Sanchez alone.
Things will get easier for Newcastle
Two points from four games will look worrying on the surface, but there is cause for optimism.
Steve McClaren’s players have had one of the toughest starts possible, taking on four of last season’s top eight, and the games ahead of them are much more welcoming.
If they still have two points after playing West Ham and Watford then they might have to start panicking, though. It’s Chelsea and Man City back-to-back after that.
Referees are damned if they do and damned if they don’t
Andre Marriner has come under criticism in the past, not least from Arsenal fans after a famous case of mistaken identity in their 6-0 defeat at Chelsea in 2014.
But today he performed significantly better, yet still found himself the target of abuse from those who didn’t agree with some of his decisions.
If Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher can’t agree on a call, then it truly is a thankless task.
