There are many positives that Arsenal can take from the win over Newcastle.
There has been an endless supply of negatives that one can point to in many Arsenal games this season, however, on this occasion, there is an abundance of positives.
Nicolas Pepe
He is still nowhere a £72 Million player but if he maintains the form he produced yesterday then he soon will be. On more than one occasion he was surrounded by at least three players and that alone shows the immense respect the opposition are affording him. He has been a bit of a let down this season but he came good yesterday proving that if one is patient they will get rewarded.
Clean sheet
That is now three clean sheets in the eight Premier League games that Mikel Arteta has been in charge of and the second in a row and while it could be better it is still a huge improvement.
Bukayo Saka
The young man just keeps on producing game after game, he had a sluggish first-half but did not let it get him down and he showed how versatile he is. The 18-year-old was brilliant in the second half and the way he left the Newcastle defenders for dead to set up Nicolas Pepe was a sight to behold.
Transition play
The transition between defence and the forwards was a key element missing from the Arsenal game all season but not yesterday. The combination of Dani Ceballos and Mesut Ozil was too much for Newcastle to handle, they controlled the midfield and provided service to the forwards all game long.
Mikel Arteta
The man is growing into the job at an electric pace, he got it wrong against Burnley but did not allow that to faze him and made some big calls yesterday. Leaving out Gabriel Martinelli, starting Eddie Nketiah over Alexandre Lacazette and playing both Ceballos and Ozil were huge decisions and it was not just his team selection that worked, whatever he said at half time also had the desired effect that turned the game around.
There are many other positives I could have added to the list, Ozil return to form, Lacazette scoring and so on but this would have ended up being an opus and so five positives are enough to be celebrating right now.