Arsenal v Newcastle - as it happened

Preamble: Players from both teams will have to put on quite a show this afternoon to top the entertainment provided by Newcastle United players Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll, not to mention Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, courtesy of this morning's News of the World . Newcastle arrive in London high on the hog after their 5-1 smiting of Sunderland last Sunday, ninth in the Premier League table and hoping to avoid a fourth consecutive 3-0 away defeat at the hands of Arsenal. A win this afternoon will send them joint fourth with Manchester City, for an hour or so at least. A win for the Gunners would leave them joint second in the table with Manchester United, two points behind Chelsea, who play Liverpool at Anfield later this afternoon. Match pointers • Arsenal have won all of their last three home matches in all competitions against Newcastle by a 3-0 scoreline • Newcastle have won one of their last 15 league meetings with Arsenal • Between them, soon to be former housemates Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan have scored 12 of Newcastle's 19 Premier League goals this season • Arsenal have scored in the last 10 minutes in nine of their last 11 home league games • Only Manchester United have scored as many headed goals in the Premier League as Newcastle this season (six) Team news we've pulled from the wires: Robin van Persie makes an unexpected return to the Arsenal bench, having been out since 28 August with an ankle problem. Captain Cesc Fabregas also returns to the starting XI, having missed the midweek away Champions League defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk with a hamstring problem, while Theo Walcott, on target in Ukraine, gets a chance to impress watching England boss Fabio Capello. Jack Wilshere returns to domestic action after a three-game ban. Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan and striker Andy Carroll are both in the team, despite making front-page headlines this morning following allegations about their private lives. Former Gunner Sol Campbell is on the bench for the Magpies. Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Walcott, Chamakh, Nasri. Subs: Szczesny, Rosicky, van Persie, Djourou, Arshavin, Eboue, Bendtner. Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Jose Enrique, Barton, Tiote, Nolan, Gutierrez, Carroll, Ameobi. Subs: Soderberg, Campbell, Routledge, Lovenkrands, Smith, Steven Taylor, Ranger. Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) On Sky Sports Newcastle manager Chris Hughton says his decision to play two strikers is more about fielding the same team that's won two Premier League matches in a row, than any foolhardy ambition to tear into Arsenal. Meanwhile in the studio, Jamioe Redknapp is saying that Andy Carroll has all the tools to become a top, top striker, but chuckles when he adds the obligatory "as long as he looks after himself off the field", proviso. He's right too: McMuffin breakfasts are no sort of a repast for an athlete. Not long now: The teams line up in the tunnel, with both sides wearing their usual colours. "C'mon boys, let's focus!" shouts somebody or other, just before referee Mike Dean leads them out. 1 min: Arsenal line up playing a 4-3-3, with Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere flanking Alex Song in midfield, behind a three-pronged attack of Theo Walcott on the left, Samir Nasri on the right and Marouane Cashamkh in the centre. Newcastle are playing a 4-4-2, with Joe Barton and Jonas Gutierrez on the right and left-hand side of midfield. Arsenal kick off, with Cesc Fabregas and Marouane Chamakh quite literally getting the ball rolling. 2 min: Jonas Gutierrez pings the ball down the left touchline past Bakari Sagna, for SHola Ameobi to chase. The Newcastle striker tries to pick out Andy Carroll with a cross, but his delivery is cleared. That was sloppy defending by Sagna. 3 min: Newcastle are lording it early doors, enjoying most of the possession. Joey Barton sends in a diagonal cross from the right flank, but there's too much loft on the ball and it sails over Jonas Guttierrez's head. 4 min: Arsenal are forced to clear their lines, this time after Danny Simpson lobs in a grenade. 5 min: More slack defending from Sagna, who allows Jonas Guttierrez to turn him in the Arsenal penalty area. He shoves the Newcastle defender, who goes down appealing for a penalty. Mike Dean waves play on, but I'm not sure he should have. From where I'm sitting, it looked like he should have awarded a spot-kick. 6 min: Arsenal finally give their fans something to cheer about, with Theo Walcott burning off Coloccini and Williamson to race on to a through-ball from midfield. Tim Krul dashes off his line and only just beats him to the ball. 7 min: Alex Song threads the ball through a forest of legs in the Newcastle penalty area, but it hits the back of Marouane Chamkh's heel, allowing Newcastle to clear. 8 min: Having seen a replay of that Sagna challenge on Gutierrez, I think I owe Mike Dean an apology. The players got their arms tangled, but there was no shove on the Argentinian. That said, I've seen penalties given for a lot less. 10 min: Walcott picks up the ball on the right wing, before drifting inside and picking out Samir Nasri on the left. He cuts inside, but is dispossessed by Cheil Tiote on the edge of the Newcastle penalty area. 11 min: Coloccini fouls Jack Wilshere and Arsenal win a free-kick about 30 yards from the Newcastle goal, a smidge left of centre. 12 min: Fabregas steps up, strikes the dead ball and it takes a deflection off the Newcastle wall before rattling the cross-bar. That was close. 13 min: "Can you change the picture please?" asks Ben Stanley, [referring to the picture of Halle Berry dressed as catwoman that used to accompany this minute-by-minute report]. "I'm sitting in a Bratislava cafe trying to work on an academic paper and follow the match at the same time, and Halle Berry is 'distracting' me. Do you have a picture of Kevin Nolan instead? Sans catsuit, of course." 14 min: Song picks out Sagna in the corner with a diagonal pass, but his attempted cross is blocked by Jose Enrique. 15 min: Wilshere picks out Walcott in a shooting position with a marvellous pass, but the Arsenal winger makes a complete dog's breakfast of the opportunity, slicing horribly wide. 16 min: Fabregas goes close for Arsenal, shaking off Tiote and latching on to an Alex Song pass into the box. He turns this way and that and looks to be on the verge of unleashing a low diagonal shot, only for the ball to take a deflection off Danny Simpson's heel. 19 min: Williamson heads behind for a corner after Walcott had tried to pick out Nasri with a dinked cross from one side of the penalty area to the other. Krul rushes off his line to confidently claim the ensuing outswinger. 20 min: There seems to be a very muted atmosphere in the stadium, even by the standards of the Emirates library. 21 min: Squillaci dispossesses Coloccini with a meaty challenge and gives the ball to Alex Song., He prods it towards the edge of the Newcastle penalty area for Cesc Fabregas to chase, but there's a wee bit too much pace on his pass. 23 min: Gael Clichy gets the first yellow card of the game, for a rather robust and completely unneccessary challenge on Jonas Guttierez down by the right touchline. 24 min: "Please, contrary to the protestations of geographical whereabouts show-off Ben Stanley (13 min), do not replace the current picture with one of Kevin Nolan sans catsuit," writes Mac Millings. 24 min: Newcastle try to launch a counter-attack from the edge of their own penalty area, but Jack Wilshere puts a stop to Shola Ameobi's gallop with a meaty challenge. 26 min: There's a pause in play as Newcastle midfielder Cheik Tiote gets treatment for a claf injury in the centre-circle. He walks off to sideline for a follow-up consultation with the Newcastle physio. 27 min: Bakari Sagna fouls Jose Enrique, allowing Tiote to return to the fray. Joey Barton, who must be absolutely loving the fact that Andy Carroll's taken up his mantle as Newcastle's tabloid staple, lofts the free-kick into the Arsenal penalty area, where Lukasz Fabianski claims confidently. 30 min: Newcastle win a free-kick about halfway inside the Arsenal half, for a Fabregas foul on Kevin Nolan. Barton sends the ball into the mixer, where Arsenal clear. 30 min: Gravity gets the better of Marouane Chamakh, who goes to ground in the Newcastle penalty area under a challenge from Jose Enrique. No penalty is forthcoming. He didn't dive, nor was he fouled. I think he just fell over. 32 min: Cheikl Tiote's name goes into the book for a foul on Jack Wilshere. 33 min: "The Halle Berry picture may be distracting Ben Stanley from what will inevitably be another dull, unreadable and inconsequential academic paper, but if his writing and topic were riveting he wouldn't be distracted in the first place," writes Neil Macknish. "I am grading papers at the moment and I need all the Halle you can throw at me to keep me awake. Ta!" 35 min: A promising looking Arsenal counter-attack breaks down when Danny Simpson dispossesses Samir Nasri, who goes down injured. Andrey Arshavin starts warming up on the touchline. 35 min: Nasri seems to be OK, despite having had his shin clattered by Simpson. 36 min: "How about a picture of Kevin Nolan in a cat suit?" suggests Raymond King, a Geordie in Germany, who confidently predicts "we'll get tonked 0-3 in the end." 37 min: A pretty dull game threatens to spark into life as Arsenal launch a lightning fast attack that comes to nought when Marouane Chamakh tries to be too clever and Arsenal's a pass to the feet of Jose Enrique when he should have shot on goal. 38 min: Cesc Fabregas shoots into the side netting from a narrow angle, shortly before Samir Nasri brings a splendid one-handed save out of Tim Krul with a blistering shot from the edge of the Newcastle penalty area. 40 min: Arsenal are starting to assert their authority, but Newcastle get some respite when Kevin Nolan wins a soft free-kick halfway inside his own half. I've just seen a couple of replays of Krul's save from Nasri and it really was marvellous. He showed incredible agility and reflexes to claw a surface-to-air screamer over the bar with the finger-tips of his right hand. GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Newcastle (Carroll 44) Newcastle win a free-kick just inside the Arsenal half, which Joey Barton pumps into the corridor of uncertainty between goalkeeper and defence in the Arsenal box. Fabianski dashes off his line to leap for the dropping ball, but is beaten to it by Andy Carroll who had sneaked in behind the Arsenal defence. He wins the header and wheels off in celebration as the ball bounces into the unguarded net. Half-time Mike Dean blows for the interval, with Newcastle going in for their half-time oranges with a surprise lead. Carroll's goal was a very well taken opportunist effort, but Arsenal's dreadful defending at the set piece was compounded by their goalkeeper's woeful flap. There was no need for him to go for that ball. Half-time chat: "After all the off-the-field stories about his behaviour and personal life, is it strange that the only reason I actually dislike Andy Carroll is because of his hair?" asks Peter Corway. "I couldn't give a monkeys about what goes on off the pitch for him, but his bloody hair is appalling. I think this is the first time I have disliked someone based entirely on their hair." Really? What about Mick Hucknall? "While we're doing Batman characters, how about a picture of Two-Face, in honor of the mercurial Andrey Arshavin?" asks Patricio del Orsay. "Mac Millings, he of geographical-whereabouts-envy and a dodgy fetish for Kevin Nolan, may perhaps find other websites for his comfort-cravings," suggests Chris in Buffalo NY. "That was definitely a ball the keeper should be coming for," writes proper punditry's Roy Allen. "It was in the air a long time. He was just outjumped by a huge leap from Carroll." Ben Stanley writes ... again: "I'll have Neil Macknish know that my paper on the impact of populist attitudes on Slovak voting behaviour will revolutionise the study of Rather Unimportant Central European Political Parties as we know it!" he declares. Second half: Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi get second half proceedings underway. 46 min: Theo Walcott tries to curl in a cross from the right wing, but the ball hits Fabircio Coloccini's big bouffant, before being hacked clear by Jose Enrique. 47 min: Arsenal win a free-kick wide on the right, which Fabregas sends into the Newcastle penalty area. Back helping out in defence, Andy Carroll heads clear. 47 min: Arsenal probe for an opening on the edge of the final third, before Wilshere spots one and dinks the ball through the right-hand side of the Newcastle penalty area. The move looks to have broken down when Walcott and Chamakh get in each other's way, but the former recovers sufficiently to fire off a screamer from a narrow angle. It rattles the underside of the crossbar and bounces back into play - that's a let-off for the Toon. 49 min: More Arsenal pressure and another near-miss. Wilshere played Fabregas in behind the Newcastle defence, he laid off to Song, who squared the ball for Marouane Chamakh. Looking a bit flat-footed, he took a half-second to long to try to slot home from six yards, allowing Danny Simpson to get across him and block the shot with an excellent last-ditch tackle. 52 min: Joey Barton causes panic in the Arsenal defence, sending two excellent deliveries in quick succession into the mixer. The Gunners clear, albeit unconvincingly, after Andy Carroll swings his leg for the the far post volley, but hits fresh air. 53 min: Barton tries his luck from distance, but hits the ball high and wide. 55 min: Arsenal substitution: Samir Nasri, who's been poor this afternoon, off. Andrey Arshavin, who's been poor this season, on. 56 min: "Not that it's all that relevant but I'm writing this from a beautiful, palm fringed, white sand, Caribbean beach and was just wondering if you couldnt spice up your MBM report by wearing a catsuit yourself?" asks Ben Bamford, who incorrectly presumes I'm not wearing one already. 57 min: Arsenal substitution: Marouane Chamakh off, Robin van Persie on. 58 min: Arsenal's supporters seem to have been perked up considerably by the arrival of Van Persie. To the best of my knowledge he only started training yesterday, so he may well be a bit rusty. 60 min: Joey Barton gets penalised for some indiscretion or other, giving Arsenal a free-kick halfway inside the Newcastle half on the left flank. Arshavin sends the ball into the penalty area, from where it's cleared with a header. 62 min: Jose Enrique gallops down the left flank for Newcastle, before playing the ball through to Kevin Nolan ahead of him. He's flagged for offside. 63 min: Nolan gives away possession with a sloppy pass, allowing Arsenal to surge forward on the counter-attack. Arshavin tries to play the ball through to Theo Walcott in a shooting position on the right-hand side of the Newcastle penalty area, but Jose Enrique makes a crucial interception. 65 min: There's a break in play as Jack Wilshere gets treatment for a knock. He's not badly hurt and able to continue. "On current form Joey Barton and Andy Carroll should be a shoe-in for the next England squad, but look unlikely to make it into the image-conscious international ranks for shenanigans past and recent," writes Mike Gibbons. "Given some of the more established players at bigger clubs who appear regularly in the squad despite their own considerable rap sheets surely this is somewhat unfair - where and when is/was the line drawn? Are we in a post-Terry age?" 66 min: Newcastle win their first corner of the game, followed quickly by their second. Barton sends the ball into the penalty area, where Newcastle centre-half Mike Williamson heads high and wide. 68 min: Galloping into the Newcastle half, Cesc Fabregas over-runs the ball and dives in to prevent Shola Ameobi winning possession. He gets booked for his trouble. 69 min: Joey Barton, who's playing a blinder this afternoon, picks out Andy Carroll with another raking, diagonal cross-field pass from the right wing. Carroll takes the ball down under pressure from his marker at the far post and tries an ambitious shot from a narrow angle. High and wide. 72 min: Arsenal substitution: Nicklas Bendtner on, Jack Wilshere off. 73 min: Coloccini dives in to block a close-range effort from Arshavin. Corner for Arsenal, from which they win another. Cesc Fabrgas pings the ball into the Newcastle penalty area, where Danny Simpson hoofs clear. 74 min: Just before Bendtner replaced Wilshere, Arsenal went close after Fabregas chested a pass between Newcastle's centre-halves and into the path of Theo Walcott, who was through on goal but also a foot or so offside. 75 min: Despite Arsenal turning the screw, Newcastle are defending well, even if they are riding their luck a bit at times. They get a chance to double their lead when Ameobi tries to get on the end of another Barton free-kick from deep, only to be foiled by Fabianski. 77 min: Fabregas sends the ball into the Newcastle box, where Jonas heads clear. 79 min: Krul throws the ball out of play so he can get treatment after a mid-air collision with Robin van Persie as they both leapt for a high ball. 80 min: Arsenal win a corner, which Arshavin sends in from the left. It's half-cleared, but only as far as the Russian, who pings a cross into the box. With the ball travelling at chest height, Fabregas sends a diving header into the clutches of Tim Krul. 82 min: Newcastle substitution: Shola Ameobi off, Nile Ranger on. Newcastle win a free-kick about 35 yards from the Arsenal goal, which Joey Barton takes. The ball fizzes through the penalty area and into the arms of Lukasz Fabianski, missing everyone in its path. 84 min: "Talking about bad hairstyles, what the heck is going on with Joey Barton's hair?" asks Adam in New York. "He looks like some 50's crooner!" It's an interesting haircut Joey is sporting, alright. Very short back and sides, but with a fair bit on top, swept to the right in a raffish side-parting. He's a pencil moustache away from looking like a World War Two squadron commander and looks a bit like someone you might have seen in a 1950s Brylcreem advert. 87 min: Just three minutes and whatever the ref decides to add on for injuries for Arsenal to snatch an equaliser their flat performance this afternoon scarcely deserves. Newcastle's stout defending to date would suggest not. 88 min: Clichy sends a diagonal cross-field pass into the Newcastle penalty area, but his delivery is too far ahead of Nicklas Bendtner and Tim Krul claims without fuss. 90 min: There'll be four minutes of added time. Arsene Wenger seems to think there should be a lot more, possibly because it would delay any difficult conversations he might be forced to have with Mrs Wenger later this evening. 90+2 min: Red card! Laurent Koscielney gets sent off for dragging down Nile Ranger after the Newcastle striker had got the wrong side of him, beaten him for pace and was clear through on goal after getting on the end of a hoofed Joey Barton clearance from deep. That's his second dismissal of the season. Although Ranger had a lot of work left to do from where he was on the right flank, he did only have Fabianski to beat as there was nobody back covering, so Mike Dean was right to send him off. 90+4 min: Sagna wellies the ball down the field to Bendtner, but Newcastle clear. Peep! Peep! Peep! It's all over - Newcastle win their third Premier League match in a row, with an excellent performance against a surprisingly blunt Arsenal. They rode their luck at times, but thoroughly deserved a win that catapults them to joint fourth in the table, just three points behind the hapless Gooners.