Daily Mail - 12.08.2019

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THE VERDICT: PREMIER LEAGUE

IAN

HERBERT

at St James’ Park

0

1

Aubameyang 58

ARSENAL

NEWCASTLE

Aubameyang fires first bullet to give

Gunners hope for months ahead

SPRINGING

IN THE RAIN

T

here’s a level of

anticipation about

a renewed Arsenal

that the club has not

known in mid-August

for years, after £138million

was spent this summer.

The song about new £72m record

signing Nicolas Pepe — ‘super

Nicky Pepe’ — was ringing out

from the away end from the

moment he began his career at the

club as a 71st-minute substitute.

Neither the Ivorian nor Dani

Ceballos — the real Madrid loa-

nee who arrived to a song of his

own — had time to make a sub-

stantial impression, though those

asked to hold the fort until the

new Arsenal cavalry arrives did

enough to engender hope for the

months which lie ahead.

It was not a performance to live

long in the memory yet grim, rain-

sodden environments like this

have become something for Arse-

nal fans to fear in recent years.

Pierre–emerick Aubameyang

provided the strike which divided

the teams. There should be plenty

more goals once Pepe is into his

stride and loading the bullets from

the left for both Aubameyang and

Alexandre Lacazette to fire.

Aubameyang is at his most

effective when operating in preda-

tory, uncomplicated moments like

the one he seized to score from.

he required one touch of the out-

step to kill a ball sent skidding

across a wet surface by Ainsley

Maitland-Niles two minutes before

the hour mark, and a second to

dink it over Martin Dubravka.

Those who are looking for signs

of a genuine renaissance can point

to Arsenal’s struggle to achieve so

much as a clean sheet away from

home in recent years. It was April

15 before they achieved one last

season. But there was not enough

on offer from steve Bruce’s New-

castle to provide any meaningful

assessment. The outcome of Unai

emery’s second season will be con-

tingent on how a defence which

was barely tested yesterday comes

to perform. Newcastle’s £16.5m

signing from Nice, Allan saint-

Maxim, threatened in a late cameo

from the bench which revealed

why some believe he is equal to the

best of his compatriot hatem Ben

Arfa. Consistency will be his

challenge.

The £40m Brazilian Joelinton

threatened just once, navigating a

ball into the Arsenal box to bring

a sharp save at close quarters from

Bernd Leno. First impressions

suggest it is a stretch to see him

scoring the 15 goals a season

Newcastle need in a prime striker.

The look in steve Bruce’s eyes at

the end of it all telegraphed the

confusion of his own creation that

contributed to Aubameyang’s

goal. New Dutch defender Jetro

Willems was sent on to replace an

injured Jonjo shelvey early in the

second half, with the mistaken

impression that he was supposed

to be playing in central midfield.

After several minutes of aimless

confusion, Willems heeded Bruce’s

demands that he switch to the left

flank, where he was still at a loss

when he failed to anticipate a poor

ball from Paul Dummett and

watched Maitland-Niles seize pos-

session before crossing for the

goal. Bruce later claimed Willems

was operating higher up the field

than anticipated. This was about

as far removed from rafael Beni-

tez’s meticulous organisation as

you will get. A Benitez substitute

is never left in any doubt as to

where he is supposed to be.

The consolation for Bruce was

that the planned boycott over

Benitez’s departure was not as

substantial as it might have been.

There were empty seats but the

attendance was a little over 47,600:

about 5,000 short of capacity.

Bruce’s players certainly looked

motivated. Paraguayan Miguel

Almiron, bought last January by

Benitez, was by far the best of

them during a first half which

Newcastle edged. Depleted by

injury, the late registration of

David Luiz and threats to the

safety of Mesut Ozil and sead

Kolasinac, emery found personnel

far closer to home than those he

spent heavily to bring in.

There were starts for three

London-born players who came

through Arsenal’s academy —

19-year-olds reiss Nelson and Joe

Willock and Maitland-Niles, 21. All

played with their heads up,

looking to take players on.

The side will, however, need more

imagination if they are to make an

impression against teams of qual-

ity. Those moments of genius

belonging to sides with serious

aspirations were missing. henrikh

Mkhitaryan didn’t lack enthusi-

asm but his final ball was desper-

ately poor. It’s not hard to see why

emery feels the Armenian can go.

Head over

heels:

Aubameyang

dinks over

Dubravka

(left) before

celebrating

his winner

in style

GETTY IMAGES/EPA