LONDON: Arsenal returned to winning ways and deepened Newcastle United’s relegation worries as goals by Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli sealed a comfortable 2-0 Premier League win on Saturday.

Bottom club Newcastle had new manager Eddie Howe on the touchline for the first time, but it made no difference as they were well beaten and remain without a league win after 13 games.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, whose 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions came to a juddering halt at Liverpool last week, dominated the opening half with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missing a sitter.

But their patience was rewarded as Saka finished superbly in the 56th minute before substitute Martinelli volleyed the second with his first touch.

Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey was denied by the woodwork in the first half but once they went behind, a 17th defeat in 18 league games against Arsenal looked inevitable.

“I’m happy with the points after losing to Liverpool. You have to win straightaway,” Arteta said. “The word was we had to be patient. We had to play with urgency and rhythm. We found spaces and that’s how we scored the goals.”

Arsenal stayed fifth in the table, level on points with fourth-placed West Ham United while Newcastle, who have six points and are five behind 17th-placed Leeds United, are the sixth different team to fail to win any of their opening 13 Premier League games.

Of those, only Derby County in 2000-01 survived relegation.

Howe, who had to watch last week’s 3-3 draw against Brentford from a hotel room due to a positive Covid-19 test, took some encouragement from his team’s display.

“I thought it was a good performance, especially the start. We were good for the first half an hour,” he said. “The pleasing thing today is how we started and finished the game. We created chances.”

Newcastle now face back-to-back home games against fellow strugglers Norwich City and Burnley.

“We just have to look at the first one,” Howe said. “Momentum in football is so important. We need to get that win as quickly as we can.”

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2021