A rampant Arsenal destroyed Newcastle inside the opening 45 minutes: they were in front after only 42 seconds thanks to Theo Walcott, while before three minutes were up Johan Djourou had made it two. Robin Van Persie added further strikes in the 10th and 26th minutes.
In the second period Abou Diaby was sent off following an incident with Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan and the game was less open after that with the Gunners seeming content to hold on to their four-goal cushion.
However they were unable to do so, Barton sticking away a pair of penalty kicks either side of a Leon Best finish – and Cheik Tiote dramatically sealed the comeback with a stonking volley from almost 30 yards with three minutes of normal time to play.
The result means Manchester United can move seven points clear of the Gunners should they win early this evening against Wolves – and Arsene Wenger’s side will not have a game in hand at the end of the day.
From kick-off Arsenal looked for short, precise passes despite facing a congested Newcastle midfield. They were rewarded almost immediately as Diaby’s pass inside to Andrei Arshavin took a deflection to put Walcott through on goal, and he slipped a casual finish into the bottom corner past Steve Harper.
With only 2:45 on the clock it was two. Russian playmaker Arshavin, by his own admission suffering from a crisis of confidence on the field of play, bent a lovely free-kick into the penalty area for Swiss centre-half Djourou to head in off the crossbar.
The Toon showed signs of coming back into the match, with captain Kevin Nolan unlucky to see a low cross cleared by Diaby, but were dealt a sucker-punch third only 10 minutes in.
Walcott – who caused mayhem down the right flank throughout the opening half – pulled back low for Netherlands striker Van Persie, eight yards out, to sweep home halfway up the goal with his right foot.
The waves of attacks kept coming, with Spain star Cesc Fabregas – the orchestrator of so much of Arsenal’s best play – forcing a near-post block from Harper after controlling Jack Wilshere’s flicked ball inside.
Two minutes later they had their fourth, Bacary Sagna delivering a pin-point cross from close to the right-hand corner flag for Van Persie to nod emphatically inside the near post.
Walcott’s damaging runs should have produced further goals, but the home defence managed to keep him at bay despite seeming all at sea. By contrast the away back four looked at ease even when stretching to clear in the box.
Van Persie shot over when a raking Fabregas ball put him through on the left and the Dutchman could have made it five in the dying seconds of the half, Harper turning his effort behind following good work by Wilshere.
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