Arsene Wenger: 'We’ve been through pain and that will make us focus, make sure we’re not complacent'

Published: 28 April, 2014
by RICHARD OSLEY at the EMIRATES STADIUM

Barclays Premier League
ARSENAL 3, NEWCASTLE UNITED 0

FROM this one, we learned little, the game steeped so one-sidedly that it often felt like a training ground exercise. Perhaps, the main thing that should be taken is greater evidence that Arsenal’s league title quest might not have capsized so suddenly in the Spring months had Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil not been laid low for so long with injury. With that assessment must come a hope that the two can stay fit through the next campaign, possibly with a team built around.

Together, with a third musketeer in Santi Cazorla, they ran rings around Newcastle United, who were so devoid of both energy and spirit that the end result seemed like a foregone conclusion throughout. Never did the visitors probe deep enough to find the frayed nerves that come with a race for Champions League qualification. Everton fans, hoping for an Arsenal stumble, had reason to be frustrated by this inept performance, laughably described by Newcastle manager Alan Pardew as one in which his side had shown ‘great character’ and left with ‘dignity’. His own fans had barracked him with reminders that this was the Magpies’ sixth defeat in a damp squib of a season climax.

The freedom handed to Arsenal meant Ozil, Ramsey and Cazorla – perhaps throw in Olivier Giroud too – could indulge in showboating at times, flicks, tricks and Cruyff turns. There was almost a swagger about it all, belying the fact that three weeks ago their place in the Champions League was about to be lasso’d by Everton.

Giroud gets on the scoresheet

Victory ensures a top five finish – and the extra measure of satisfaction among the home support that Spurs, despite their summer of transfer market grandstanding, cannot finish above them. It’s been 19 years of that in north London. Another win will be even more important, for a success against either West Brom here on Sunday or on the road against Norwich the following week will ensure the Gunners pip Everton to that crucial fourth place slot.

“We’re not there yet,” Wenger said with caution, as he was invited to celebrate afterwards. “We’ve been through pain and that will make us focus, make sure we’re not complacent.”

The goals were simple: Santi Cazorla’s perfectly delivered free kick found Laurent Koscielny stealing behind three Newcastle defenders to prod past Tim Krul for the opener. Mesut Ozil rolled in the second shortly before half-time as the ball fell loose to him after Olivier Giroud had a one-on-one chance twice repelled by the luckless Krul, who three or four times produced saves which went a long way in capping the scoreline.

Number three was the best, Ramsey and Ozil linked up before crossing onto Giroud’s head with such precision the Frenchman could not fail to miss.

There were other chances but three was enough and Wenger was delighted, purring afterwards: “Game by game, the team is getting stronger.” 

But there is a hint of regret when he talks too, not of errors in strategy but in the injuries that deprived him of all three of the goalscorers here, as well as Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott.

“You might make do without two top players, but we had five players out,” he said.