Ever since the insane 4-4 draw between Arsenal and Newcastle, I have viewed this fixture nervously despite our relatively good record against the Magpies.

Although our recent run of results led me into this game with a fair amount of optimism. However, even I could not have predicted such an incredible display of goal scoring today.

Sign him up?

Unsurprisingly, Theo’s hat trick today led to cries of “sign him up!” from various sections of the crowd.  Despite a couple of iffy moments, his performance was outstanding.

He scored three goals of immense quality that showed his incredible finishing skills.  Quite simply if he plays like that every week he should be a fixture up front for the rest of the season (if we can keep him).

The Giroud Effect

Despite his obvious dominance in post match analysis, the effects of other team members must be duly noted.  Olivier Giroud acted as a catalyst to the team from the moment he entered the field of play.

Coming on as a late second half substitute he managed to acquire a brace and very nearly three.  I know many might argue that it is difficult to see a system by which Walcott and Giroud could start games together up front; it cannot be argued that seeing them play together today was a real treat.

The future of England

It seems these days I am bringing this up nearly every week but its no less relevant than it has ever been.  As well as Walcott (who we have already discussed), Gibbs, Wilshere, and Chamberlain were in my opinion superb today.

The Ox showed great strength and pace along the wing showing he can comfortably fill a void left by Walcott.  Gibbs was an asset both offensively and defensively putting in some key crosses.  Wilshere…well he’s always awesome.

We still conceded three…I suppose

It wouldn’t be right to ignore Newcastle in this piece and of course, for two thirds of the game they gave us a fight.  I thought we defended well today and their goals were more about taking advantage of momentary lapses of concentration.

At the end of the day, I think its fair to say that we wont lose many games if we play like that every week.

A change in outlook

One thing that really struck me today was that for once the team actually looked like they were enjoying themselves.  I think this was key to our victory and vital to future success.

A lot of this I think can be put down to momentum.  This is why I think the longer we keep this newfound enjoyment and excitement around the team; we will continue to play as brilliantly as we did today.

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