Should this fixture be repeated next season, Newcastle may need some cajolement into making the journey. They have lost 11 straight games at the Emirates and on the basis of past performances and current form most elements of their latest reverse could confidently be predicted at the outset.
![Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli see off winless Newcastle](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/24a01d9bab3bad3b34c5d40e51c15a56b12a2a98/0_72_3465_2079/master/3465.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdG8tZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=8d020210dd2cd32620c22ebef5ae9f65)
Arsenal were not especially convincing but ultimately proved too strong, scoring twice in the third quarter of the game, and once Bukayo Saka had put them ahead any doubts about the outcome were banished.
Arsenal continue to tick off the lesser assignments and maintain designs on the top four, but the scale of Eddie Howe’s task is starkly laid out.