Welcome along everyone. Nine Premier League games were played over the weekend meaning we’ve got just one left to be decided and it comes from North London, where Arsenal entertain Newcastle United.

Anyone else hoping for a repeat of this?

YouTube credit: Fo0tballTV

Here’s how the teams line up:

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Rosicky, Arteta, Walcott, van Persie, Oxlade-Chamberlain. Subs: Fabianski, Andre Santos, Ramsey, Djourou, Gervinho, Chamakh, Benayoun.

Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Ben Arfa, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Obertan, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Guthrie, Cisse, Perch, Gosling, Shola Ameobi, Vuckic.

The Gunners have Mikel Arteta back in the side as he’s recovered from a concussion and opt for Premier League player of the month Robin van Persie in attack with Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain behind him. Ivorian international Gervinho drops to the bench.

Interesting stat about Van Persie from Opta:

Alan Pardew has gone with Demba Ba up front and left his compatriot Demba Papiss Cisse out for Hatem Ben Arfa, who will be expected to be the creative force for Newcastle.

Howard Webb is happy to get things underway so Newcastle kick off.

Arsenal win the ball and attempt to play Van Persie through, but he is offside. Down the other end, Ba wins a corner, which is played short but eventually goes out for an Arsenal throw.

I don’t no how Van Persie didn’t score there. Sagna wins the header and Walcott gets the better of Coloccini down the right. His cross is an inviting one but the Dutchman can’t make any contact with it.

Arsenal’s top scorer has just spurned another decent chance. He chests the ball down inside Newcastle’s box but a heavy touch plays it to Williamson. The defender hesitates but the ball is eventually cleared.

It’s been an extremely open game in the first five minutes.

Newcastle’s enforcer Cheik Tiote has just caught Alex Song on the foot. The Ivory Coast midfield isn’t afraid to put the boot in.

Walcott looks in the mood tonight and has won Arsenal their first corner. It’s whipped in by Van Persie and Walcott attempts to direct it on goal.

GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Newcastle (Hatem Ben Arfa)

The visitors take the lead against the run of play with a cracking goal. Ben Arfa, who has started out on the right wing with Gabriel Obertan starting more centrally, goes by Kieran Gibbs and rifles a shot past Szczesny.

GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Newcastle (Robin van Persie)

Less than a minute later, Arsenal have the ball in the back of the net. Walcott and Van Persie combine and the latter takes an excellent touch before firing home from a central position. Crazy stuff.

Chamberlain is brought down by Coloccini 22 yards out from goal and Van Persie takes responsibility with the free-kick. The strike has got a fair amount of power and gets by the wall but doesn’t trouble fellow Dutchman Tim Krul, who collects easily.

Alan Pardew on former Lyon and Marseille attacker Ben Arfa this week:

This is a player who has potential to play in the European Championships. Now it’s going to be about how much game-time he gets really. I think he’s well regarded as someone who can do something different.

“His work ethic in training has improved considerably.”

What a season Van Persie’s having. He’ll fancy his chances of adding a couple more here.

Yohann Cabaye, who has been fairly quiet so far, fires over with a strike. Then something you don’t see much of these days. Koscielny goes down under a challenge from Ba but Webb waves play on. In the spirit of fair play, Tiote puts the ball out so he can receive attention.

Jonas Gutierrez sees a volley from 15 yards headed out by Koscielny. It leads to nothing and Newcastle are back in possession in their own half. Krul takes his time to play it up field and is booed by the Emirates faithful. Arsenal win a corner… two minutes ’til half-time.

Half-time: Arsenal 1-1 Newcastle

Tiote gets to grips with Rosicky. Credit: Stephen Pond/EMPICS Sport

So Arsenal fall behind to Ben Arfa’s 14th minute strike but equalise 53 seconds later thanks to their talisman. Arsene Wenger’s team are looking good to go on and score more in the second half with Walcott in particular enjoying himself out wide.

Despite only having having 38% of possession in the first 45 minutes, Newcastle are still right in it but need to get Ba involved more.

And we’re back.

Arsenal attack straight away but the danger is snuffed out and Newcastle break with Obertan down the left. With two options available, the Frenchman chooses to cut the ball back to Ben Arfa at the edge of the box but the ball is a poor one. Great chance that.

Meanwhile, Pardew is looking to counteract the threat posed by Walcott so has taken off Davide Santon for James Perch.

Walcott is again involved in an Arsenal attack. His cross is met by the head of Rosicky but Krul pushes over.

Van Persie wasn’t far off doubling his and Arsenal’s tally on two occasions in quick succession. He gets on the end of a cross from Arteta but shoots too centrally.

He is then slipped through by Rosicky, who has been lively. His effort from an acute angle is saved by the foot of Krul, however.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has had a quiet night so far but showed a glimpse of his ability there. The 18-year-old outpaces Danny Simpson and jinks by Tiote but is off-balance and skews a strike horribly wide.

An ineffective Gabriel Obertan has been withdrawn from the action and Shola Ameobi is on in his place.

Inevitable event of the match: Tiote has been shown a yellow card.

Here are the two goals by the way…

YouTube credit: FootyarenaRoma

Tomas Rosicky is upset with himself and so he should be. After linking up with Walcott, he completely miss-hits the ball with his weaker left foot.

Arsenal have since made a substitution – Gervinho is on for Oxlade-Chamberlain.

15 minutes on the clock and the teams remain tied. Arsenal looking the more likely of the two to score but the home crowd are beginning to sound a little edgy.

Rosicky comes off to a deserved applause and Aaron Ramsey is introduced for his first Premier League appearance in a month.

Sloppy play by Newcastle defender Danny Simpson, which very nearly leads to an Arsenal goal. He attempts to find Ben Arfa with a pass in the right corner but is intercepted by Gibbs, who finds Van Persie. Shooting with his right, the striker sees the ball deflected off-course.

Pardew makes his last throw of the dice and brings on Danny Guthrie. Ben Arfa looks the man to make way but Tiote signals that he’s pulled something and leaves the action instead.

Gervinho really is dire in front of goal. The winger gets a terrific chance to put Arsenal ahead but scuffs a shot wide when a ball from the left comes all the way across to the back post.

Don’t know how many guilt-edged opportunity he’s wasted this season.

Into the final minute of the 90. Walcotts tries to pick out a red shirt with his cross but it is cleared by Williamson. Alex Song recycles but Krul pulls off an top notch save from Vermaelen’s header.

We’ll have five minutes of additional play.

Walcott is protesting to Webb and wants a penalty after watching his shot come off the back of Coloccini.

GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle (Thomas Vermaelen)

Arsenal push players forward and it pays off. Walcott whips a ball into the box and the Belgian defender sweeps home from close range. That’s the three points for the Gunners.

Krul and Van Persie, who had words earlier in the match, are at it again. Webb about to blow any second now.

Full-time: Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle

Arsenal clinch it at the death to win their fifth game on the bounce.

I think we showed the mentality of fighters. In the second half, we were pushing and pushing but we had to be patient. We are on a good run at the moment and we want to fight for third place” -Thomas Vermaelen

We’re getting our jobs right. We’ve been fantastic at the back as well recently. Tottenham would want to be watching over their shoulders” – Man-of-the-match Theo Walcott

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew:

Last minute defeats are galling. Unfortunately, Danny got injured but we couldn’t take him off. We didn’t have the legs to see it out. We gifted them the first goal and could’ve kept the ball better but it’s difficult as they’re a tough team here.”

So not quite the 4-4 goal-fest but a thoroughly enjoyable 97 minutes of football nonetheless. Arsenal continue their run of coming from behind to win and now are only one point behind Spurs in the race for third place. Thanks for checking in with us… I’m off but will be back for the Merseyside derby tomorrow night.

Good night all, I’ll leave you with the winning goal.

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