Arsenal 4-4 Newcastle United: Two points thrown away by Arsenal

Theo scores the opener for Arsenal.

The greatest game of the season was played out at St James Park this afternoon. Arsenal started the game brilliantly and were 3-0 up within 10 minutes and four up by the half hour mark. The second half went horribly wrong and Arsenal dropped two vital points. I'm not blaming Phil Dowd or Joey Barton but they definitely influenced the match in a bad way. There were some poor decisions by Phil Dowd throughout the second half and as as expected some crunching tackles from Joey Barton. Diaby got himself stupidly sent off in the second half after being wound up by Joey Barton. It started after a Barton tackle on Arshavin just before half time, which led to Diaby putting in a harsh tackle. When Barton put in another poor tackle after half time on Diaby himself, Abou simply lost it pushing Barton over and then pushing Nolan away. This was stupid from the Frenchman and he deserved to go but then surely Barton deserved a yellow for the tackle on Diaby. After a Newcastle penalty Szczesny was grabbed and pushed to the floor by Kevin Nolan which also warranted a red card as it was similar if not worse to what Diaby did. This resulted in a yellow for Szczesny somehow. Ive already seen many jokes on Twitter, saying the Andy Carroll money may have found it's way to Phil Dowd, maybe Cesc will have something to say over this once again.

 Arsenal began the game superbly with a typical Walcott goal in the first minute. Two minutes later Djourou scored an easy header from a free kick where the marking was simply non-existent. In the tenth minute Robin Van Persie scored a third for the Arsenal and then got his second with a powerful header in the 26th minute. Arsenal were in full control of the game, dominating possession and defending well on the occasional attack from Newcastle. The game then began to boil over just before the whistle after Joey Barton took out Andrey Arshavin. Andrey didn't react but Abou Diaby did sliding in on Barton and conceding a free kick. It was a foul but so was the previous tackle which Phil Dowd didn't give. This was the type of inconsistent referring that happens so much in football, and can drive players and fans mad. 

 At the start of the second half no one would have possibly imagined the half of football that was played out at St James Park. There were two main incidents in the second half that led to the Newcastle comeback. The most important I believe was Djourou picking up an injury and being replaced by the awful Sebastien Squillaci. Djourou and Koscielny had been superb in the first half and as soon as Squillaci came on Arsenal looked far less confident and simply fell apart.  A few minutes after Djourou was forced off due to injury, Abou Diaby followed him down the tunnel after losing the plot completely. As I said earlier in the article he reacted to a poor tackle from Joey Barton by pushing him to the ground. Kevin Nolan then unnecessarily got involved running towards Abou Diaby who pushed him away much to Nolan's surprise. Phil Dowd correctly sent Diaby off for his over reaction but did Barton deserve to be sent off for the potentially dangerous slide tackle?

 

 Newcastle now appeared to be in control of the game and Arsenal were all over the place, passes were going astray and Newcastle kept having the ball given back to them time and time again. Newcastle won a penalty after Laurent Koscielny fouled Leon Best in the box. It wasn't a definite penalty more of a 50/50 but Arsenal couldn't really complain with the decision. Barton scored the penalty sending Szczesny the wrong way. Szczesny then picked the ball up from the back of the net and was simply wrestled to the ground by Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton. This was another example of inconsistent referring as what Nolan did wasn't much different to what Diaby did and he should have been sent off. Confusingly Szczesny received a yellow card, a very strange decision from Phil Dowd. Best scored a second for Newcastle in the 75th minute and suddenly a comeback looked possible. He took the goal well and the Arsenal keeper had no real chance of saving it. In the 83rd minute Newcastle were awarded a second penalty. There was no way at all this was a penalty, even after seeing many replays. Koscielny simply jumped for the ball with Mike Williamson who also seemed surprised about the decision to award the penalty. Barton scored again taking Newcastle one goal away from a magnificent come back. The come back was completed in the 87th minute after a brilliant strike from the Newcastle midfielder Tiote. It was a superb goal which was never going to be saved. 

Newcastle celebrate the equaliser.

 To sum up Arsenal should never have drew the game after being in such a commanding position. Newcastle undoubtedly deserved the dray they got, but if Diaby and Djourou had stayed on the pitch Arsenal would have won comfortably. Arsenal threw the game away and looked awful as soon as Squillaci came on for the injured Djourou. I hope Djourou isn't injured for long as Squillaci is a liability at the back and his confidence must be at an all time low. There were some shocking decisions from Phil Dowd throughout the match as well as Arsenal's awful second half display. I believe Nolan should of gone for wrestling Szczesny to the ground and this could of swung the game back in Arsenal's favour. In the end the draw was a fair result. It was certainly a game of two halves and one of the most entertaining we will see this season. However Arsenal dropped two points and can't afford to let this happen again. If we play anything like the first half we can beat anyone and that includes Barcelona. If we play like the second half, well we've seen what can happen today.