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Arsenal showed 'ambition' of title winners in Newcastle win: Arteta / Photo: © AFP
Arsenal showed 'ambition' of title winners in Newcastle win: Arteta
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side showed they are ready to go to "the next level" and win the Premier League after scoring two late goals for a vital 2-1 win at Newcastle on Sunday.
The Gunners took full advantage of Liverpool's first defeat of the season at Crystal Palace 24 hours earlier to move up to second and within two points of the defending champions.
Nick Woltemade had put Newcastle in front against the run of play in the first half.
Arsenal were headed for a damaging defeat until Mikel Merino headed in on 84 minutes before Gabriel Magalhaes won the game in the sixth minute of added time.
Arteta's men have finished second in each of the past three seasons and have not won the title since 2004.
Victory at St. James' Park, where they had lost in each of their previous three visits, silenced some questions of Arsenal's title credentials after failing to beat title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City in the early weeks of the season.
"We discussed that to go to the next level, first of all, you have to learn from the past and certainly we take some lessons and very sore different and sore moments in this ground," said Arteta of Arsenal ending their Newcastle hoodoo.
"Today was an opportunity that the game brings you again in a really important week in the Premier League after all the tough places that we've already been, very early in the season, to show who we are, who do we want to be, our ambition, and the way that we want to play.
"I think the team showed that today in a remarkable way."
For Newcastle, it was a case of deja vu after Liverpool scored a 100th-minute winner in a 3-2 thriller at St. James' Park last month.
Eddie Howe, though, accepted that his side are yet to hit the standards they did last season in winning the League Cup and qualifying for the Champions League.
Newcastle have won only one of their opening six Premier League games and lost their Champions League opener to Barcelona.
"Two really late goals here at home hurts. We have to reflect and acknowledge that we weren't at our best," said Howe.
"There was not lack of effort but from a footballing side, it wasn't quite there."
S. dos Reis--JDB
