Newcastle at home. As anticipated, it was comfortable, but certainly not spectacular. But three points, some more promise for the future, and consolidation in fifth place ahead of two tough away trips.
68% possession. 24 shots. As the crowd very eloquently put it: 'You're rich; and you're f*cking sh~t!'. More goals would have been nice, but let's just bank the win and move on.
There were a few talking points, nonetheless. The first of which was the continued selection of Tavares over Kieran Tierney at left back. Personally, it's not something I agreed with. But on the other hand, Tierney had not been at his best this season (in keeping with the rest of the team) before he got injured, and barring his big mistake at Anfield the young Portuguese has done little wrong (saying that, some of his shooting was quite comical against Newcastle!). But he's been essentially solid defensively, and does love to get forward at pace; so I can understand Arteta's decision, even if I don't agree with it. In fact Tavares has done enough, I feel, to keep his place at Old Trafford - although Jadon Sancho is something of an upgrade on the ponderous Joelinton.
The second talking point was the complaetely unsurprising decision to reinstate Odegaard in the number 10 role in place of Alex Lacazette. Harsh, perhaps, on the Frenchman, who made a big difference on the team's link-up play since he got back into the side. But he's off in the summer at the very latest; so with a win a high probability on Saturday it was probably sensible to look at younger alternatives.
It was probably unfair to judge and single Laca out following the defeat at Anfield, but Arteta didn't change any other personnel. And to be frank I thought that Arsenal looked extremely lethargic and disjointed for the first half hour against a strictly limited Newcastle side - whether that was something of a 'hangover' is debatable, but if you had to hand pick a fixture after Liverpool away it would probably be this one.
Nonetheless, there's very little action to report on from the first half as it took a while for Arsenal to get up to speed. Lokonga's cross found Saka racing in at the back post, but he could only poke it wide on the stretch. There was Dubravka's routine save from Odegaard's free kick, and Ramsdale's superb tipping of a Shelvey effort onto and over the bar.
Followed by a moment that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will want to forget as he managed to merely hit the post from two yards after the Newcastle goalkeeper had pushed out Smith Rowe's header to his feet.
And nothing much else to report in a somewhat turgid first 45 minutes.
This certainly wasn't our skipper's day. Again, one might say... and to be frank, whilst he's been laudably 'leading the press' over the past few weeks, he's not been at his best in and around the penalty box, has he? But I honestly don't think that it's lack of effort that's doing for him; for me, he's simply past his peak. And combine that with Laca's age etc. we do have a looming problem up top.
Whereas we have either experience or potential in depth in other areas of the pitch, centre forward is an area that needs to be addressed in one of the next two transfer windows. Lacazette won't be here next season, Auba will be gone the season after at the very latest, and the alternatives are all youngsters (Nketiah; unfortunately not going to make it at the club - Balogun; needs a loan to toughen him up - Martinelli; super cameo on Saturday, but questions remain as to whether he can consistently deliver). I'd suggest that Arsenal need a 24-26 year old proven performer to fill that gap. Names are being bandied around, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I also note that some people are moaning about Partey's contribution. And whilst it's not been spectacular, and not what we might have hoped for from a £45m player, he's a DM, and it's fair to say that injuries have meant a year or more of truncated runs in the team. So let's look to judge him in May. I, for one, am happier with him in the side that when he is not.
And so to the second half, when it was clear that Arteta had demanded his team raise the tempo. And from the moment the second period kicked off a goal was coming. And on 56 minutes it arrived. Neat interplay involving Lokonga and Smith Rowe, and then Tavares' clever reverse ball to Saka, who had overloaded the left hand side, who crashed the ball home from the angle. And so we could relax.
Saka limped off after 66 minutes (it looked bad, but apparently is not) and was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli - a man with very little game time so far this season, and a point to prove. And so he did - a run bent around the disjointed Newcastle defence, and a brave and spectacular volley as he met Tomiyasu's exquisite chip whilst facing being flattened by the onrushing goalkeeper. With just his second touch, and a mere 90 seconds of getting onto the pitch. Sumptuous.
And he should have had a penalty late on, as Lascelles left his mark on him with a clumsy, badly-timed barge.
Questions are now being asked as to whether Gabi has done enough to replace Auba in the starting line-up. And whilst I can understand that his cameo, allied to Auba's drop-off, might get people thinking that way, Arteta would be a brave man to do that at Old Trafford. I wouldn't like to be making that call; one way or the other.
It would be remiss of me to fail to mention T*ttenham's humiliating defeat in Slovenia last Thurday, so I shall do so now. Suffice to say that I was still laughing out loud a good 5 minutes after the game had ended. Glory Glory!
And so to the traditional 8.15pm on a Thursday kick-off time for Manchester United away, live on the freely accessible Amazon Prime. The travelling fans will be cursing those who have arranged this. Nonetheless, I wish them a safe and happy journey home. I'll be back to report on it on Friday. COYG!
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