This is the final game of the weekend. In the interest of satisfying those who do and do not want to know the result from today's earlier game, I'll post the result and the updated standings in this post IN WHITE. You'll need to highlight the empty space to see the text. WARNING: You'll still be able to see the text if you look hard enough, so if you don't want to know don't even look at the bottom of this post. DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN START HERE Today's other game: ManUre 1, Man City 1. Shaun Goater with a goal in the 86th minute to tie the match. Nicely done by the ex-ManUre player. Standings: Teams Pld Pts Arsenal 26 56 Man United 27 54 Chelsea 27 48 Newcastle 25 48 Everton 27 45 Liverpool 27 43 Tottenham 27 42 Charlton 27 42 Soton 27 39 Blackburn 27 37 Man City 26 37 A Villa 27 35 Leeds 27 34 Middlesbro 26 31 Fulham 26 30 Birmingham 27 26 Bolton 27 25 West Brom 26 21 West Ham 27 20 Sunderland 27 19
Starters From arsenal.com: ARSENAL David Seaman Lauren Martin Keown Sol Campbell Ashley Cole Robert Pires Patrick Vieira Gilberto Sylvain Wiltord Dennis Bergkamp Thierry Henry SUBS Francis Jeffers Stuart Taylor Ray Parlour Gio van Bronckhorst Pascal Cygan NEWCASTLE UTD Shay Given Nolberto Solano Andy O'Brien Jermaine Jenas Kieron Dyer Alan Shearer Craig Bellamy Aaron Hughes Titus Bramble Laurent Robert Olivier Bernard SUBS Gary Speed Lomano Tresor Lualua Shola Ameobi Tony Caig Nikos Dabizas Speed's healthy but only makes the subs bench. Fat Titus Bramble preferred to Dabizas.
Yellow card for Ian Darke/Just before kickoff He just squealed the result of today's earlier game. Teams come out on the pitch to the sounds of the excellent tune 'Local Hero' by Mark Knopfler. Newcastle are wearing the traditional black and white stripes; Arsenal wearing the traditional red with white sleeves.
Kickoff -Oops, Darke said the result again. -Neale Barry's the ref - I think we've tied both games he's reffed for us this season. -Arsenal kicks off, move from left to right in the first half.
4th minute Newcastle nearly score on the counter, as Laurent Robert runs down the left side, delivers a teasing cross to Shearer, whose low shot is excellently turned away by Seaman.
5th minute Free kick to Arsenal after Wiltord is fouled, he crosses up Newcastle by squaring it to Bergkamp. His shot from the middle goes just wide of the post, although Given looks like he had it covered.
7th minute Shearer goes down under pressure from Vieira in the Arsenal box, he whines to the ref but Barry calls Shearer for an obvious shirt pull. At the other end, Wiltord rushes into the Newcastle box, but can't get a shot or a pass as he's closed down well.
11th minute Arsenal corner, as Henry's cross is cleared out by Hughes. Henry takes it to the right of Given, Vieira's header is going for goal but Solano knocks it with his knee, the ball hits the crossbar and rebounds to Pires, who heads it over the bar. Extremely close call.
13th minute Shearer clutches and grabs Campbell going for a loose ball, then he falls in the box and whines for a penalty. Nothing given. A few seconds later, Shearer takes a cross at the top of the box and volleys it strongly but right into Seaman's arms.
17th minute Solano's cross finds Dyer in the box, but Newcastle called for offsides. Replays show it was poor call.
18th minute Great three-man move from Wiltord to Vieira to Bergkamp results in an Arsenal corner. Henry's cross is long, Wiltord's volley in tight space goes well over the net.
21st minute Excellent movement by Arsenal as Vieira finds Wiltord who finds Pires whose first-time shot from the left edge of the box goes wide of the goal.
22nd-23rd minutes 22 - Pires gives the ball away, Robert starts up the left side and Lauren cuts him down from behind to pick up a yellow card. Darke says that's his 5th of the season, meaning a suspension. 23 - Newcastle win a corner as Arsenal head out a cross. The corner is long and is eventually knocked over the goal line by Newcastle for an Arsenal goal kick.
26th minute Shearer catches Ashley Cole going for a loose ball; Cole goes down holding his right foot; the crowd aren't buying it and boo England's left back.
29th minute Robert loses the ball after a great run, Newcastle claim hand ball and whine to the ref. From the resulting scrum for a loose ball Shearer goes clattering into a group of players and gives Vieira a hip check, earning himself a deserved yellow card.
32nd minute Shay Given with a brilliant save off Fat Titus Bramble to save an own goal. Henry with the cross and Given HEADS IT off the line for a corner. Henry's corner from Given's right is easily dealt with.
33rd minute Newcastle win a corner after good work from Bellamy, but Robert wastes the corner by booting it long and out of touch for a goal kick.
35th minute Goal Arsenal. Henry takes a brilliant pass from "useless shite" Wiltord, rounds Given, and cooly slots it home for the deserved 1-0 lead. Arsenal 1, Newcastle 0.
37th minute Another near chance for the Gunners, as Wiltord wins the ball with a tough tackle, gets it to Henry who finds Bergkamp in the box, but Dennis is well covered and can't get a shot off. Funny, it's not so loud at St. James's anymore.
A good example of Wiltord doing more than scoring. Sometimes I think, in my criticism of Vieira, that I put too much emphasis on scoring. But this shows that Wiltord makes contributions beyond scoring.
39th minute Newcastle are on their heels and a free kick from Bergkamp is allowed to bounce dangerously in the box before Shearer clears it away. From the corner, the loose ball comes to Wiltord whose shot from 23 yards is handily caught by Given.
41st minute Arsenal counter after a short spell of Newcastle possession, Pires caps off the move with a shot that Given has to make a sharp stop on. The Gunners regain possesion, Vieira's cross looks dangerous and O'Brien has to head it out for another corner, which is too low and easily cleared. Gunners get it back, and Pires's chip attempt in lots of room is easily caught by Given. He probably could and should have done better.
44th minute Newcastle win a corner, Solano's cross from the left of Seaman is easily dealt with. A rare spell of possession for Newcastle.