Arsenal cannot win like a normal team. It seems they must wring every last ounce of drama from the occasion. Their standard policy in recent weeks has been to give their opponents the lead before roaring back – and here they left it until the Fat Lady had shouted herself hoarse.
Five minutes of injury time had been signalled and it looked as though Arsenal would not be able to summon the knock-out blow against a Newcastle United team that was out on its feet. The second half had amounted to a siege but Arsenal raised the intensity still further in the closing stages and they carved out the chances to have turned several games.
Thomas Vermaelen alone had a header cleared from in front of the line by Danny Simpson and another acrobatically tipped over the crossbar by Tim Krul. Yet the defender mustered one last surge upfield, in the very final minute, to emerge as the match-winner.
One of the most painful cuts felt by a Newcastle side now without a win in four games was that they had the ball deep in Arsenal territory yet somehow they contrived to be felled on the counter.
With Simpson injured and unable to get back, Vermaelen made his move, overtaking players in black and white as he devoured the ground from the edge of his own area. His gallop might have been set to the music from an action film. The outstanding Theo Walcott duly supplied the cross from the right and when the ball broke, Vermaelen was unmarked at the far post to crash home his shot from close range. The crowd lost themselves in frenzy.
Arsenal have now come from behind to win their last four Premier League matches, which is a record for the competition. Their supporters might prize most highly the 5-2 triumph over Tottenham Hotspur, having been 2-0 down, but, hard on the heels of the last-minute victory at Liverpool, this was another impossibly sweet success for them.
Emotions stamped wildly through the stadium and they bubbled over when Robin van Persie taunted Krul, his fellow Dutchman, after the winning goal. Van Persie had been incensed from late in the first half at what he felt had been time-wasting from Krul and it was easy to imagine him telling the goalkeeper that he could take all the time he wanted after he picked the ball from his net. A mêlée flared and both players were booked. Arsène Wenger suggested that there was history between the pair.
But if divisions among Dutchmen felt like nothing new, nor was Arsenal's never-say-die spirit, which has defined their battle back from the dark days of the early season and their push for automatic Champions League qualification. Before the derby a little over two weeks ago Wenger's team had trailed Tottenham in third by 10 points. The deficit now stands at one, with momentum and belief most assuredly in the red corner. Wenger said his players refused to bow to the inevitable while Walcott noted that how a team finished the season was of the greater importance.
It was heartbreaking for Newcastle, who had taken the lead through Hatem Ben Arfa and, having ridden their luck and dug deep defensively, looked set to emerge with a point coated in endeavour. Alan Pardew had billed the game as a must-win in terms of his club's Champions League aspirations, although he might take comfort from the likelihood that sixth ought to carry a Europa League berth.
There had been a looseness about Arsenal when Ben Arfa scored. Vermaelen gave the ball away to Chiek Tioté and, in a flash, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan had worked it right to Ben Arfa. He jinked inside Kieran Gibbs, who was a long way from being tight, and exposed Wojciech Szczesny at his near post with a fierce shot. Newcastle's players strutted en masse in celebration.
But to Pardew's dismay, the lead lasted less than a minute. Walcott's first assist of a pulsating evening picked out Van Persie in the area and his touch and cuteness embarrassed Mike Williamson. The Arsenal captain dispatched his 33rd goal of the season beyond Krul.
Wenger's team were the more adventurous in the first half and they pressed harder and harder on to the front foot in the second. Newcastle were stretched and they repeatedly put bodies on the line, with Tioté epitomising their work ethic. The Ivorian might clatter on the edge of the game's margins – and he was booked for clipping Tomas Rosicky – but his bite was vital.
Arsenal and the home support raged at what they felt were cynical efforts by Newcastle to remove the sting from the game. Krul was jeered as he eked away seconds when he had the ball and Van Persie, in particular, felt his hackles rise. Pardew attempted to explain away the tactics, arguing that his team needed to wait for their strikers to "get set" upfield. Newcastle have endured worse at St James' Park this season, he said.
Yet the chances came in increasing volume for Arsenal. Rosicky drew a save from Krul with a sharp header while Van Persie should have done better from Mikel Arteta's low ball. Rosicky miskicked when gloriously placed; the substitute Gervinho scuffed as the goal gaped; Vermaelen threatened and so did Walcott.
In the end, though, Vermaelen simply refused to accept that it would not be Arsenal's night.
Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 13 Mar 12
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