When one team goes down to 10 men, this often means the opposing one pretty much has the run of the pitch, but not Arsenal, apparently.

In fact, Arsene Wenger has revealed that after a while, we actually found it harder to play against the 10-man Magpies.

After the match, Wenger explained why we appeared to struggle against a 10-man team.

“Yes [the red card changed the game],” he said. “I expected more space for Theo Walcott. At the start it looked quite promising but after 15 minutes it was a different problem for us. There was no space behind their defenders, the service through their lines was very difficult and they defended very well.”

It was an unusual display. We had 74% possession and a truck full of chances, but we still looked weak in front of goal. We failed to be clinical enough and, once again, only won because of an own goal. Whether we would have scored without Fabricio Coloccini helping us out, I don’t know.

Despite Newcastle’s numbers on the pitch reducing so early on, they didn’t actually look as if they had less men on the field. It’s worrying that a team such as Arsenal who can dominate so much possession can do so little with it.