Arsenal maintain form with win over Newcastle

Arsenal took advantage of an Everton slip up against Southampton to go four points clear of their top four rivals on Monday night. A 3-0 win over Newcastle United meant Arsenal extended their lead over Everton in fourth place. The win against the Magpies was an extremely convincing one as we continued our fine form throughout the back end of April. Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil all bagged goals in a comfortable display against a side who can't wait for the season to end. It terms of the Arsenal side, it was an unchanged line-up from the win over Hull as Ramsey and Ozil continued their return to full fitness. The only change was on the bench where Thomas Vermaelen replaced the injured Chamberlain.

Mesut Ozil was instrumental as Arsenal beat Newcastle

Perhaps the most encouraging thing from the game was the performance put in by Mesut Ozil. Having just returned from injury it was like he'd never been away from the side at all. He managed to score in his final appearance before getting injured which meant that his strike against Newcastle meant he now had two in two. The German play-maker was at the heart of everything. He played in a precise ball for Giroud's headed goal which sealed all three points. Giroud himself could've had another in the first half after missing a one-on-one that fell to the feet of Ozil who couldn't miss as he made it 2-0.

The scoring however was opened by Laurent Koscielny who scored just as he did last year against the Magpies. Cazorla swung in a free-kick that Koscielny managed to get a touch on to guide home. Cazorla and Koscielny were two of the stand out players from the game. Despite the fact that Koscielny picked up a rather unnecessary first yellow card of the season for kicking the ball into the crowd, he had a very solid game. His composure shone through and it was a surprise to see Kompany ahead of him in the PFA Team of the Year. Cazorla meanwhile now has 3 assists in his last three games after going through a quiet spell in the previous two months.

We now have two clean-sheets on the bounce. It's great to see we're picking up some momentum and the similar sort of form which saw us sit at the top of the Premier League for such a long time. Having the likes of Ramsey and Ozil back has been such a big boost. It's been a time for players to step forward and be counted as the race for the top four starts to hot up. Nacho Monreal has stepped in for Kieran Gibbs a lot this season and hasn't really been as consistent as he'd like to be. Against Newcastle on Monday though he was a lot more solid than we've been used to this season and also provided a threat going foward. He almost managed to score a fourth late on!

Lukas Podolski has been another man in form and could've added to his four goals in two games in the second half as Ozil laid the ball back to him on the edge of the area. However the German could only find the side netting with his attempt. It was a game that probably merited more than a 3-0 win. Had it not been for Krul in the Newcastle goal we definitely would've scored more!

With Everton losing to Southampton at the weekend its given us a massive advantage going into this weekend's fixtures. Everton face Manchester City on Saturday and if they lose we could already be guaranteed a place in the top four regardless of what we do against West Brom and Norwich in our remaining two games!

The teams line-ups:

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey(75), Cazorla, Ozil(75), Podolski, Giroud(84).
Subs: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Jenkinson, Flamini(75), Kallstrom, Rosicky(75), Sanogo(84). 

Newcastle: Krul, Debuchy(84), Williamson, Coloccini, Dummett, Gosling(70), Anita, Tiote, Gouffran(89), Sissoko, Remy. 
Subs: Elliot, Yanga-Mbiwa(84), Haidara, Taylor, Obertan, Ameobi(70), Armstrong(89). 

My man of the match: Mesut Ozil.

Referee: Neil Swarbrick. 
Attendance: 60,023.