Arsenal left Tyneside with all three points but were given a late scare, and held out for a 2-1 win over Newcastle United.
It was a good start to the proceedings by The Magpies with half chances Jacob Murphy and Ayoze Pérez, but the best chance fell to Alexandre Lacazette who hit the side-netting.
The Gunners took four minutes after the restart when Granit Xhaka struck home, before Mesut Özil added a second nine minutes later. The latter stages belonged to the home side with Ciaran Clark's late goal giving them some hope, but it wasn't enough to steal a point.
Starting off strong
It had been far from the best start for Newcastle who had only mustered one point thus far, and the visit of the North London was the latest of a string of tough fixtures.
But it was a bright start for Newcastle as Shkordan Mustafi's slip saw Murphy latch onto the ball and burst into the area, but Sokratis was alive to the situation to muscle Murphy off the ball.
It was then the turn of Unai Emery's side as Lacazette works it into his left foot, but couldn't do enough as it went into the side netting.
The last chance of the half fell to the home side as they broke through Pérez, he tried to find Matt Ritchie in acres of space but Sokratis dived in to win the crucial tackle.
Back to the drawing board
Any plans that Rafael Benítez made at the break were thrown out of the window almost instantly as Arsenal came flying out of the traps.
Xhaka stood over the set-piece and did brilliantly to lift it over the wall and into the top corner which left Martin Dúbravka with no chance.
It was soon two as Lacazette's shot was deflected into the feet of Özil, the German was having a quiet afternoon until he stroked it past Dúbravka who got a touch but couldn't keep it out.
Late drama?
It took until the final two minutes for Newcastle to get into gear as Joselu is picked out at the far post, but the header is straight at Petr Čech who tipped it over the crossbar.
The fans were given something to go home with as Federico Fernández's corner was into the middle, and Clark was there to power his header home but it wasn't enough in the end.