A second-half goal from striker Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal a 1-0 victory at St James Park earlier on today and the three points saw them climb above Manchester City to the top of the Premier League.
The nervy victory means The Gunners will enter 2014 as the league-leaders, and after the game Arsene Wenger and Alan Pardew faced the media.
Olivier Giroud on ending his goalscoring drought of seven games: “It’s nice to score, it’s been a few games so it’s important to come back. It was a tough game against my fellow Frenchies and it was important to get the win.”
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: “Mesut Ozil has a shoulder problem. I don’t think he will be available for Cardiff on Wednesday, maybe after that, we will see.
“There was a big satisfaction because we surprised many people and we want to go from there, we played two away games and got six points against West Ham and Newcastle and as you can see the team is ready for a fight. Let’s keep fighting and trying to develop the team.”
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew: “We certainly didn’t deserve to get beat but a mistake cost us at a set play, and we then had some moments at the end but we have come out with our confidence renewed even though we have lost.”
