Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hailed the importance of his side’s 1-0 victory over 10-man Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners needed an 52nd minute own-goal from Magpies skipper Fabricio Coloccini to seal all three points, despite playing the majority of the game with a one-man advantage after Aleksandar Mitrovic was shown a straight red card early in the first-half.
After a frustrating goalless draw against Liverpool at the start of the week, Wenger’s side went into the game knowing they needed to win heading into the international break and they made hard work of securing all three points.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was recalled to the starting XI, saw his cross turned into the net by Coloccini for the only goal of the game early in the second half to leave Wenger happy with maximum points from two away games at the start of the new season:
“We know we’ll turn it round at home so it was important mathematically not to drop points today, not to be too far from the top teams,” the Frenchman said in his post-match press conference [via the club’s official website].
“It was important mentally as well because we dropped points at home. We had two different away games at Newcastle and Crystal Palace but we’ve got six points. That is very good,” Wenger added.
SEE ALSO:
‘Walcott is not a centre forward’: Twitter reaction to Arsenal striker’s performance against Newcastle United
Arsenal player ratings vs Newcastle United; Walcott FAILS centre-forward audition
Arsenal wonderkid wants to emulate legendary midfield duo Andrea Pirlo and Andres Iniesta