A Fabricio Coloccini own goal sealed the victory as Arsenal won 1-0 at 10-man Newcastle despite a far from convincing display at St James' Park.
Aleksandar Mitrovic's early red card gave Newcastle an uphill struggle. But the Gunners didn't make their dominance count enough and had to rely on an unfortunate deflection to help them to victory.
The match once again highlighted Arsenal's need to enter the transfer market for a striker. Although Olivier Giroud and Walcott are decent players, it is about time we snap up a striker who can get us 25-30 goals a season. Obviously that is easier said than done but we certainly need to address the issue. We have drawn a blank in two of our four league games and we should be doing a lot better than that.
The match stats are also a bit misleading as Arsenal got nine of their 22 shots on target, but it certainly didn't feel like there had been that many opportunities in what was, in truth, a very dull game.
Arsenal came close to opening the scoring after eight minutes when a delightful first-time pass from Hector Bellerin set up Walcott, but Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul was out quickly to block the England international's effort.
The Gunners saw a penalty appeal turned down minutes after Florian Thauvin appeared to push Bellerin in the box. The touch was very minimal and could have been considered harsh had a spot-kick been given.
Newcastle, who failed to register a single shot on target during the whole match, were reduced to 10 men after just 16 minutes after Mitrovic's studs-up challenge saw him stamp on the foot of Francis Coquelin.
Arsenal were unable to make their extra man advantage count in the first half and didn't create enough clear-cut chances. Alexis Sanchez forced a save out of Krul, with Walcott sending the rebound over the bar, while Aaron Ramsey saw his effort deflected wide. But that's about as good as it got for the visitors in the opening 45 minutes
The Gunners finally broke the deadlock within seven minutes of the restart. Ramsey was denied by Krul before the ball fell kindly for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and his strike went in off the heel of Coloccini.
The visitors almost doubled their advantage soon after but Krul produced a fine one-handed save to keep out Sanchez from close range. Arsenal were unable to add to their lead with both Santi Cazorla and substitute Giroud shooting straight at Krul.
Arsenal held on for a deserved victory and getting a positive result was pleasing to see but our performance in attack definitely needs to improve when we face Stoke in our next league outing.
OPPOSITION'S VIEW
Newcastle have failed to win any of their opening four league games and the fact they didn't even test Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal was very worrying for them. Magpies' fan David Charlesworth knew it was always going to be tough for his side following Mitrovic's dismissal, saying: "It's difficult to form an opinion on our display after playing most of the match with 10 men.
"No doubt, Arsenal were worthy winners and probably would have walked off with all three points even if Aleksandar Mitrovic had stayed on the pitch. I think we have a bit of a rough diamond in the Serbian - he put in a hell of a shift at Old Trafford last week but is prone to a few brain farts."
But Charlesworth still found reason to be upbeat despite the result and he added: "My biggest gripe about our calamitous end to last season was that a few too many looked disinterested and there was a distinct lack of passion on show. That charge can't be levelled against Steve McClaren's side on the evidence of the last two games. We may have just one point to show for it but there are a few reasons to be optimistic."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
While I often defend manager Arsene Wenger when others don't, he really needs to pull his finger out and be a bit more active before the close of the transfer window. We are crying out for a world class striker. There are not too many available as the reality is, even with a big bid, some clubs may be reluctant to sell, especially without having found replacements first. But Wenger should still try and push these clubs all the way and see if maybe, just maybe, he can pull off a big striker purchase. It would certainly make one hell of a difference. Things do need to improve but at least we got the right result at Newcastle.
The draw for this year's Champions League group stages was done recently, with the Gunners being pitted against former champions Bayern Munich as well as Greek side Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia. There seemed to be a lot of negative reaction with some already saying we will have to settle for second place at best. Although I agree that Bayern Munich are likely to finish above us, it is also not impossible that we can spring a surprise. We are undefeated in our last two trips to face them on their own turf.
With the Champions League being an elite competition we should be relishing ties against the best sides because, after all, that is what it is all about. An easier group would've been more ideal but let's embrace any ties against European giants as you have to beat the best to have a slim chance of going far in the Champions League.
Now let's get the international break out the way, enjoy the fact Chelsea lost at home, hope we sign someone before the transfer window closes and get ready to face Stoke.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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