Mesut Özil has been given some time off, possibly disguised as a shoulder injury. Aaron Ramsey picked up a knee injury against West Ham on Boxing day and Mikel Arteta was rested to the bench. This meant that our midfield was all taken up by second choice players. Mathieu Flamini, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky came into the team. I think it is lazy to say that Arsenal have a weak squad without acknowledging that certain areas of the squad is actually very strong. I thought that Oliver Giroud may have been rested for this one but thankfully he played another game. He might get that rest against Cardiff City on Wednesday and maybe again against Tottenham in the FA cup

Arsenal made sure they ended 2013 on top of the table, a deserved place for the team who had picked up more points than anyone else over the year. In recent weeks Newcastle United had beaten Chelsea at home along with wins away from home at Manchester United and Tottenham. They had scored 5 against Stoke City a few days ago so we were playing against a team on a high in front of their own fans. It was never going to be a walk in the park and Arsenal were not going to get their own way for the entire 90 minutes.

Mesut Özil has been given some time off, possibly disguised as a shoulder injury. Aaron Ramsey picked up a knee injury against West Ham on Boxing day and Mikel Arteta was rested to the bench. This meant that our midfield was all taken up by second choice players. Mathieu Flamini, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky came into the team. I think it is lazy to say that Arsenal have a weak squad without acknowledging that certain areas of the squad is actually very strong.

I thought that Oliver Giroud may have been rested for this one but thankfully he played another game. He might get that rest against Cardiff City on Wednesday and maybe again against Tottenham in the FA cup.

We had started the game on the front foot squeezing the Geordies in their half, not giving them any time to get out but we couldn’t carve out good enough goalscoring chances. Then Newcastle got into the game, we did not click offensively and had to rely on our defensive game which was back yesterday after disappearing at Manchester City recently. Our attack may not have clicked due to having a new midfield behind them. League cup games aside, I don’t think Arsene has changed an entire midfield before this campaign.

Defensively we gave Newcastle very little, restricting them to long range strikes. A Koscielny mistake allowed Moussa Sissoko to eventually blast from range towards Szczesny’s goal but the pole tipped it over. Clear cut chances were few and far between for both sides. Laurent Koscielny back in the team was fantastic and totally disarmed Loric Remy, Per Mertesacker was also incredible on the day especially later on in the game.

On 65, Santi Cazorla who had gone from man of the match at West Ham to a player who couldn’t get a great deal right on the day was brought down by Tioté who was given free licence to foul all day long without a card from the referee. Justice was done as Walcott’s dinked ball in between the Newcastle United players was flicked in by Giroud from close range.

At 1-0 Arsenal are now good enough to shut up shop and keep a clean sheet, previous Arsenal teams were simply not able to do that. All the shape work with Steve Bould is paying off it seems.

Four minutes later we could have sealed the victory. Krul raced off his line to block Walcott’s poke after a threaded Wilshere pass. Walcott lobbed the rebound over the keepers head and towards goal but for Debuchy’s clearance. Giroud miscued the rebound wide on his right foot.

Newcastle then upped the gears and it was time for Per Mertesacker to step up. The big German has become more aggressive in his play and he was excellent from crosses and high balls into our box. Almost single handedly at times keeping the ball out of our penalty area.

Szczesny came close to shooting us in the foot by smashing a clearance straight at the head of Loric Remy who had been closing him down, luckily the ball rolled wide of the post rather than inside. Hatem Ben Arfa came on late and caused us a few problems one in particular where he cut inside Flamini who had to play left back in place of the injured Gibbs but instead of opting for the cut back he went for goal and missed. Another reason why I always think looking for a better placed team mate is more often a better choice than shooting.

Newcastle for all the late huff and puff didn’t really test Szczesny and that is yet again more credit to the defensive set up of the team. It wasn’t pretty but we held on for a long period and kept a clean sheet against a team full of confidence.

Alan Shearer had noted the defensive display on Match of the day and was surprised at the way we rolled our sleeves up. For Arsenal fans this is not new, we have been doing this since we last went away to Bayern Munich last season. Given that we were playing Shearer’s beloved Newcastle United, one assumes that he watched the entire game rather than trying to form his opinion on highlights and narratives.

If we continue to beat the sides that our rivals lose to then we will be up there come the end of the season yet there is an awful long way to go. We are at the half way stage and top of the league. I’ll take that. Now for Cardiff City on Wednesday.