Arsenal got over the line against Newcastle in a tense showdown at The Emirates.
Eberechi Eze’s stunner early in the opening 45 minutes paved the way for Arsenal to do what they do best and dig in and get the three points.
Yoane Wissa did miss a huge chance for the Toon late on but overall, Arsenal were comfortable enough, even if the stadium didn’t feel that way.
Indeed, while Arsenal’s players got the job done, former Newcastle and England striker Les Ferdinand noted how it is the fans who are making things nervy.
How would you have handled the Nick Pope incident during Arsenal vs Newcastle?
Arsenal fans told they’re causing poor performances
At the end of the day, it’s not the fans’ job to get the ball in the net and keep it out at the other end.
Arsenal’s players are tasked with that and the Gunners fans need to simply get behind the team.
However, according to Ferdinand, that’s just not happening right now.
“Very uncomfortable [for the fans],” Ferdinand said on Premier League Productions.
“If you’re Arsenal, you do whatever it takes to get it across the line, the fans, you can feel the anxiousness within the crowd, I’m sure that’s what’s causing the players to play in the manner they’re playing.
“It’s not convincing, but they’ll be happy because it’s three points and they’re back on top.”
Arsenal’s players did just about enough to get the win today but they know that they’ll need to be more ruthless in attack to make things comfortable over the coming weeks.
At the end of the day, if it wasn’t for one moment of serious quality from Eze and a moment of poor finishing from Wissa, we’d be having an entirely different conversation here.
Arsenal have got to start trying to make life easier for themselves. There were countless counter attacks today that broke down due to a bad pass or wrong decisions. Those are key moments and could be the difference between winning a title and not.
For now, Mikel Arteta can sit with a glass of wine and look back on a job well done.
But he knows it needs to be better.
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