Arsenal kicked off their 2005/2006 Premiership campaign with a 2 – 0 victory over Newcastle at Highbury on Sunday. The match was shown on Sky Sports and was the first of their two live matches. Newcastle came to defend, which is relatively easy to do at Highbury given the small size of the pitch. The pitch itself had been mown in certain places in the “Highbury 1913 – 2006” logo, which is set to appear throughout this last season at Highbury, before the move to the Emirates Stadium in Ashburton Grove for next season.
Most of the action was in Newcastle’s half, with the occaisonal foray into the Gunner’s half. Arsenal played their usual game, probing the Magpies’ defence. The game changed, however, when Jermaine Jenas was sent off for a tackle on Gilberto. Replays later showed that the referee could not have seen the incident clearly, and that the tackle was not intentionally dangerous. In fact, the referee has since requested that the red card be downgraded to a yellow, and this has been agreed by the F.A.. With Newcastle down to ten men, they were naturally going to defend even deeper, and Shearer spent much of the remainder of the match as a lone striker up front.
The stalemate continued until 70 minutes, when Wenger brought on Hleb and van Persie for Fabregas and Bergkamp. While Arsenal adjusted to the new arrivals, Newcastle had a period of pressure in Arsenal’s box. However, this was shortly followed by a penalty to Arsenal, as Ljungberg was bundled over in the box by N’Zogbia. Shea Given got a hand to Henry’s spot kick, but the power was too much, and it was 1 – 0 to the Arsenal.
A short while later the match was sewn up in typical Arsenal style. Newcastle had ventured out of their own half again and won a corner. Arsenal easily defeneded it, and then started a flowing move which saw Freddie Ljungberg take the ball to the byline and cut it back for van Persie to cooly steer it home from close range through a tiny gap between Given and the post. 2 – 0, game over.
So, though they left it late, the Gunners made sure that Newcastle’s last visit to Highbury would be one they would like to forget. Arsenal.com has a full match report here.