Gone are the days when Arsenal could be dismissed as “too nice.” Their recent victory over Newcastle United was a masterclass in controlled aggression and a thirst for revenge.

Fuelled by the memory of that PGMOL-inspired loss in November, Mikel Arteta’s men brought a newfound physicality to the Emirates, proving they can win both the beautiful game and the ugly battles.

From “too nice” to top contenders

Arsenal fans have long yearned to see their team embrace a more combative edge. Arteta himself acknowledged this desire, saying, such ‘nastiness’ has not been part of the club’s DNA. “Overall when you build a squad you need that (nastiness) certainly, but it comes,” Arteta told reporters at the Sobha Realty training centre. “Sometimes it comes from the culture of the club. You see that there are clubs that have that in their DNA. It is not something that you would directly link with Arsenal, that’s for sure, but it is something that has to be developed.

Yet, this match showcased a different Arsenal – one willing to fight for every ball and dish out punishment when necessary.

This shift in mentality is crucial for their title ambitions. The Gunners extended their unbeaten run with their sixth straight win and remain hot on the heels of league leaders Liverpool. Their recent scoring explosion – 25 goals in six games with only three conceded – further underscores their status as a force to be reckoned with.

Revenge served cold

The crowd at the Emirates was hungry for payback, and Arsenal delivered. They pressed Newcastle’s high line with relentless intensity, inspired in part by what we can assume were Arteta’s fiery pre-match comments after their contentious defeat at Newcastle in November. Once they broke through Newcastle’s defences with their trademark corner-kick magic, the floodgates opened.

Martinelli’s assist for Havertz’s tap-in epitomised Arsenal’s dominance. The second half only solidified their control, with even more goals showcasing their attacking flair and newfound ruthlessness.

Arteta’s calculated evolution

This transformation didn’t happen overnight – Arteta has been laying the groundwork for a tougher Arsenal all season. Victories over Manchester City, Liverpool, and the thumping of West Ham and Burnley recently signalled this shift.

Newcastle came to the Emirates knowing it would be a fight, and they were ultimately outmatched.

Stats tell a story

While Arsenal dominated on all the usual stats we expect to see when one side controls a match the way the Gunners did, Arteta’s men also came out on top in another metric too – fouls.

Arsenal committed 15 to Newcastle’s six, but few of those were dirty. It was, in fact, as if they had a ‘dark arts’ lesson this week, nibbling and cajoling, making sure Newcastle didn’t have any time on the ball.

Kai Havertz, fotmob’s Player of the Match with an 8.5 rating, gave away the most fouls with three, but that was indicative of the amount of closing down the forward was doing from the front in what was another excellent match for the much-maligned former Chelsea man.

No other player from either side gave away as many as Havertz but, interestingly, the blatant foul on him right on the edge of the box in the first half was missed completely by the referee, Paul Tierney. The Newcastle defender grabbed hold of Havertz’s arm and flung him to the ground in the box. Play on, said the ref.

Next on Arsenal’s list comes Jorginho, Gabriel, and Bukayo Saka who all made two fouls each. The remainder were spread amongst Jakub Kiwior, Martin Odegaard (for which he got booked in the only card of the game), Declan Rice, Gabriel Martinelli, Ben White, and Emile Smith Rowe.

It’s rare to see Arsenal give away so many more fouls than the opposition, but understandable given the intensity with which Arsenal played and the determination they had to win the ball back within seconds after losing it.

In addition, Arsenal also made nine interceptions to Newcastle’s five, won 82% of their tackles and 73% of their aerial duels. They did, however, do rather poorly in their ground duels, winning only 36%, which is most likely why that foul stat is so high.

Arteta after the game

After the match, Arteta confirmed it was in Arsenal’s game plan to show aggression, while captain Martin Odegaard revealed the team were indeed fired up by the sense of injustice from earlier in the season, when the referee had three opportunities to rule out Newcastle’s winning goal (ball out of play, push, offside) but took none of them. “I think we had a great performance, big credit to the boys after just half a day to prepare for the game,” Arteta told reporters at his post-match press conference, as reported by Arsenal.com.

“The way they executed everything – the intensity, the commitment, the determination, the aggression and progression in everything that we were doing with the ball. They played with a lot of courage against the team and we got rewarded. I think we fully deserved to win the game.”

In his interview, Odegaard confirmed that the team had November’s game in their heads. “I think the midweek defeat gave us the motivation to get a win today, also the way Newcastle won the game last time gave us a little bit of extra fight,” he said, as reported by Chronicle Live.