Newcastle United vs. Arsenal: Score and Reaction from 2015 Premier League Match

Arsenal beat 10-man Newcastle United 1-0 at St James' Park in their Premier League clash on Saturday.

Fabricio Coloccini's unlucky own goal proved decisive in the second half, after new signing Aleksandar Mitrovic was sent off early in the match for the hosts.

Arsenal's inability to take chances will be a source of frustration, with the Gunners again showing why they need to sign a top-class striker:

Florian Thauvin started for the Magpies after scoring and assisting three in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came in for the injured Mesut Ozil, and Theo Walcott started as a lone striker in place of Olivier Giroud.

Moussa Sissoko's booking after just three minutes set the tone for the match as referee Andre Marriner struggled to control a full-blooded encounter.

Arsenal were immediately on the front foot, and they should have had a penalty after Thauvin tripped the marauding Hector Bellerin in the area.

Marriner missed the foul, though, and he caused more controversy immediately after when he brandished a red card to Mitrovic. The Serbian appeared to stamp on Francis Coquelin in a mistimed bid to win the ball.

The Chronicle's Lee Ryder believed the 20-year-old was hard done by but conceded that similar challenges are often punished in modern football:

Thauvin and Chancel Mbemba were quickly given yellow cards of their own as tempers flared at St James' Park.

The Gunners proceeded to dominate possession for the remainder of the half and should have scored through Walcott when the Englishman pounced on a rebound from Alexis Sanchez only to put his effort wide with a virtually open goal in front of him.

Football writer Russell Cane highlighted Arsenal's inability to take their chances:

Newcastle finished the half strongly, though, as they defended stoutly despite their player deficit.

Nevertheless, it took Arsenal just seven minutes to put themselves in front after the restart, Oxlade-Chamberlain's low strike taking an unfortunate deflection off Coloccini on its way into the bottom corner.

The Gunners maintained their dominance of the ball and forced a couple more stops from Tim Krul, but the saves were fairly comfortable as Arsenal struggled to penetrate Newcastle's dogged 10 men.

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

The Toon understandably found it difficult to create chances of their own, though, and they rarely managed to push forward let alone threaten Arsenal as they saw out the win.

Two of Arsenal's three goals this season have come courtesy of opposition players, so the Gunners would be wise to bring in another centre-forward who can restore a ruthless edge to their play.

If they don't, they could struggle in their forthcoming fixtures against Stoke City, Dinamo Zagreb and Chelsea.

As for Newcastle, the Magpies have defended well in each of their last two matches against Manchester United and now Arsenal, but they will miss Mitrovic's powerful presence up front when they travel to West Ham United.

Post-Match Reaction

Speaking to BT Sport, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger hailed the win but admitted they were pursuing another striker before deadline day. Per Andy Cryer of BBC Sport, he said:

"

We were always on top. We were mature and intelligent and the win was important so maybe we were a bit cautious. They toughened the game up, they decided from the start to make it very physical but we kept our nerve.

We are out there and working on it [signings]. I am optimistic but it is difficult to predict. We have offensive potential but you always want more and more goalscorers. We have not fired offensively, our finishing has been clinical and have to improve on that.

"

Meanwhile, Magpies manager Steve McClaren defended Mitrovic to BT Sport. Per Cryer, he said: "It was a harsh red card. It was more clumsy and he stood on his foot. I just felt early on there were too many yellows and it was a rod for the referee's back."