DOUBLE TROUBLE
Arsenal 4 Newcastle 0: Aubameyang, Pepe, Ozil and Lacazette goals seal win for Gunners against toothless Toon
NICOLAS PEPE was the hero as he inspired victory over Newcastle which ended Arsenal's long wait for a Premier League win.
Mikel Arteta's side had last tasted victory in the league on New Year's Day, but they finally took maximum points as Pepe put the Toon to the sword.
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The Ivorian has endured a difficult first season in the English game, but he made the difference at the Emirates creating one and scoring another.
And all of a sudden there is hope that a late run for Champions League qualification might be on with Manchester City's expulsion now dangling the prize for finishing fifth.
Arsenal are now six adrift of that position and in this craziest of seasons who knows whether they will be able to make up that ground over the remaining 12 games.
They got away with it in this game though - for in the opening half hour they were awful as Newcastle played and ran them off the pitch.
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They finally woke up for the final third of the first 45 minutes, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka both went close.
Seven minutes after the break Pepe made his first mark, sending in a cross which Aubameyang met with a leaping header to open the scoring.
And within two minutes they had doubled their lead, this time young Saka producing a wonderful trick before finding Pepe to lash home into the bottom corner.
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It was a quick-fire impact which had turned the game, although Newcastle could still have found a way back into it.
First Miguel Almiron was left holding his head when his shot, which seemed destined for the bottom corner, was deflected narrowly wide by the outstretched foot of David Luiz.
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Then Allan Saint-Maximin beat Bernd Leno all ends up, only to see his shot cannon back off the foot of the post.
But it was Mesut Ozil who almost had the final say when he made the most of a keeper error to score in the 90th minute.
It was then Alexandre Lacazette's turn as he made it 4-0 moments before the whistle.
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