Pepe, Saka, and Ceballos shine in dominant and rare Arsenal victory

The stars finally came out to shine at the Emirates on Sunday, as Arsenal crushed Newcastle 4-0 thanks to some stunning individual performances.

Whatever the Gunners did during their winter break in Dubai, they should make a regular occurrence.

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal blew Newcastle out of the water on Sunday at the Emirates, in a match that was certainly a tale of 2 halves. The Gunners struggled in the opening half, failing to create any chances of note and struggling to get creative duo Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Pepe into the match.

Everything flipped for them in the 2nd half, however, as Arteta’s halftime changes breathed new life into the Gunners, who went on to bag a ridiculous 4 goals in the final 45 minutes to bury Newcastle for good.

The play of Bukayo Saka has been one of the few positives in a dire season for Arsenal, and the youngster managed to drive the team forward throughout the 2nd half and take home the Premier League man of the match award as well. His 1st half was poor, but he showed immense determination to come back out for the 2nd half and perform as he did. His nutmeg on Valentino Lazaro which led to his assist to Nicolas Pepe was sublime, and a taste of the young attacker’s potential – even when playing as a left-back.

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Speaking of Nicolas Pepe, he had what was arguably his best performance in an Arsenal shirt so far, making the biggest difference in the 2nd half. It was his exceptional cross to the back post which allowed Aubameyang to open the scoring, and of course, he slotted him Saka’s cross a few minutes later to give the team some breathing room. Late-on in the match, he also assisted Alexandre Lacazette’s goal, as the Frenchman ended his goal drought.

Pepe is quite clearly a sublime talent with the creative and 1v1 skills necessary to succeed at the very top – he just has to find a way to start doing it consistently.

While many other Arsenal players performed well on the night (Luiz, Leno, Mustafi, Xhaka, Ozil, Aubameyang all exceptional), Dani Ceballos’ performance deserves some real praise, because it was his first real taste of full Premier League action in months, and his first taste since Mikel Arteta came in as head coach.

The Spaniard has been criticized since the start of the season for being poor away from home and struggling to deal with the physicality of the Premier League, but his performance today was delightful, as he was constantly the one in midfield with his head up, looking for a progressive pass.

It was a much-needed win for Arsenal, who showed shades of their days under Arsene Wenger when they would blow away lesser teams at home on a regular basis. Things are clearly starting to come together under Mikel Arteta, and it wouldn’t come as a massive surprise to see these results continue, especially if the difference-makers like Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Pepe keep performing the way they did against Newcastle.