Bendtner 57, Diaby 63, Nasri 66 – Divers: Duff

It took us a bit to get the engine running, but once purring along we took it to them. And, it could have gone all so wrong early on when shit officiating earned the Magpies a kick from the spot. But… Manuel Almunia was having none of it, and made an excellent stop. Martins went low right, and so did Al, not just stopping the shot, but expertly smothering the ball as well to stop play.

The save seemed to spark things up. Both sides created chances and there were several close calls. But we went into the tunnel at the half 0-0. Then, at 57′ Niklas Bendnter took a lovely glancing header off Andrey Arshavin’s free kick to put us up. Unfortunately, we let down our guard and Obafemi Martins steered home an excellent left-footer not 50 seconds later. It was well and truly on at St. James Park.

But it wouldn’t be very long before Arsenal turned it off for the opposition. At 63′ Robin van Persie put a nice ball in front of Abou Diaby who drove home to snatch back the lead. Three minutes later, RvP once again put the perfect feed out in front of Samir Nasri, who positively threaded the needle low right to slide our third past the outstretched fingers of Harper. Several more chances were made and the wind just went out of Newcastle. Match over.

All in all, a strong performance from the Gunners. The win puts us three points out in front of Aston Villa for fourth. The complete thumping they received at the hands of Liverpool yesterday means we now have a seemingly insurmountable +14 goal differential over them. In the very real possibility that we wind up level with them on points, it could mean the difference in who goes to the Champions League next season. In other news, both Chelsea & Man U were beaten, making the Top Four grouping even tighter. We’re now only 6 points off Chelsea for 3rd, 9 from Liverpool in 2nd, and 10 points off Man U in 1st. The run up will be exciting as we play two of the three.

And now our featured Poofta of the Week: Damien Duff. Ol’ Damien decided he’d like to get his side the lead by throwing himself to the turf inside the area when he was bumped by Samir Nasri. But, unlike a Professional Poofta, his timing was  a bit off. He waited just a bit too long to throw his arms out and pitch himself over like a sack of shit. And the immediate pleading looks to the ref need some work, Damien. Not at all convincing. I think some mirror time is in order if you’re going to cheat, wouldn’t you say? You’ve gotten a bit rusty.