Sport

Arsenal gunning for top spot again

Arsenal... 1 Newcastle United... 0 If Arsenal have had a crisis they do not appear to have noticed it

Mon Nov 11 2002 - 00:00

Arsenal ... 1 Newcastle United ... 0 If Arsenal have had a crisis they do not appear to have noticed it. Losing four matches in succession after such a long unbeaten run was bound to arouse comment but all that really happened was that Arsene Wenger's side caught an autumn chill and sneezed a few times.

A couple of Premiership wins since and not much is going wrong with Highbury's season. Saturday's comfortable if not overwhelming defeat of Newcastle United has brought Arsenal to within a point of regaining the leadership from Liverpool and re-established them as England's most accomplished team.

Certainly Bobby Robson thinks so. "Arsenal are the best side at present - just," the Newcastle manager conceded. "There is a lot of ability and pace in the team. They have a lot of confidence, a lot of skill."

Patrick Vieira embodies everything Robson was talking about. Back from suspension and clearly benefiting from the enforced rest, the Arsenal captain dominated the afternoon with a demonstration of tackling, control, awareness and movement that was exceptional.

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At half-time on Saturday a similar plot was threatening to unfold. While the surge and sweep of Arsenal's football was at times breathtaking they still led only through Wiltord's 24th-minute tap-in from Oleg Luzhny's low centre.

Arsenal are having another of those spells when they should be taking a higher proportion of their opportunities.

In the Premier League Arsenal face a testing run-in to Christmas: two north London derbies against Tottenham as well as encounters with Manchester United and Middlesbrough. With the Champions League in mind, Wenger may be tempted to rotate some positions for certain games but in defence injuries are limiting his options and on Saturday Sol Campbell with a bad back was reckoned to be a better bet than a fit Igors Stepanovs.

ARSENAL: Seaman, Luzhny, Cygan, Campbell, Cole, Ljungberg, Vieira, Silva, Wiltord (Edu 90), Bergkamp (Pires 70), Henry. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Stepanovs, Toure. Goals: Wiltord 24.

NEWCASTLE: Given, Griffin, Dabizas, O'Brien, Hughes, Solano (Ameobi 71), Jenas, Speed, Viana (Bernard 71), Shearer, Dyer. Subs Not Used: Harper, LuaLua, Caldwell. Booked: Griffin, Viana.

Referee: M Dean (Wirral).