A slice of luck brought Arsenal a 1-0 away win against Newcastle United in Saturday's early Premier League game, as Fabricio Coloccini's own goal gave them three points.

Arsenal went into the game needing a win to end an unassured start to their league campaign. A draw against Liverpool on Monday saw a lot of doubt creep into the teams play, and led to Olivier Giroud being dropped in favor of Englishman Theo Walcott, whilst Laurent Koscielny returned to the team after his absence in the goalless draw against the Reds.

Furthermore, Mesut Ozil picked up a slight knee injury midweek and would not feature on the pitch or on the bench. Newcastle came into the game on the back of a goalless draw with Manchester United and had not scored in two straight games. 

First half

Arsenal started the game brightly, controlling the possession and flow of the game, However, without attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil on the pitch, they struggled to find goal scoring opportunities.

Newcastle were open at the back though, and twice Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain found himself in shooting positions. Neither team looked like scoring, until the 16th minute of the game, amid a 50/50 challenge, Alexander Mitrovic stamped on the ankle of Arsenal's Francis Coquelin, and thus received a red card from Andre Marriner. This was the start of a parade of bookings for Steve McClaren's team, picking up a total of six throughout the game.

The next victim was Chancel Mbemba for a reckless tackle on the halfway line. Then Florian Thauvin brought down Coquelin, and received the second booking of the game. From then on the game went flat, Newcastle kept all their players behind the ball and Arsenal couldn't break through their compact defense. 

There was no sign of life in the Arsenal team, and Newcastle efforts in defence were admirable considering their predicament. The teams went into half time with scores even, but Arsenal had the best chance of the game, Theo Walcott missing from point blanc range, adding to his team's frustrations.

Second half

The second half started the way the first half ended, with Arsenal on the front foot, Alexis Sanchez was eager to change the game, and his spark in the 52nd minute caused Tim Krul to parry a shot to Aaron Ramsey, who then had his shot pushed out to a waiting Oxlade-Chamberlain, who's shot was creeping wide, until it clipped the shin of Fabricio Coloccini and snuck into the corner after a small deflection. Nevertheless it will go down as an own goal for the Argentine.

From then on the game continued with its lack of urgency and Walcott and Cazorla were prime examples of this. The Spaniard getting booked for a deliberate pull on Sissoko, whilst Walcott looked devoid of energy before being replaced by Olivier Giroud. 

Arsenal were still finding the odd chance however, and a powerful run from Hector Bellerin led to Cazorla getting the ball in the box, but it led to nothing as the Spaniard was dispossessed by Mbemba, who was confident in his tackles throughout the match. As the clock trickled down, Arsenal brought on Mikel Arteta to calm things down, and that's exactly what he did. They controlled possession and almost found a second goal with the last kick off the game, Ramsey playing in Olivier Giroud who tried to send Krul the wrong way, only to find the Dutchman was well up to the task.