Olivier Giroud scored a brace as Arsenal held on to beat Newcastle United 2-1 at St. James Park on Saturday afternoon.
Despite reports that Alexis Sanchez would be rested for the visit to Newcastle, the Chilean started and he almost got his side on the scoresheet after two minutes, however, his effort was blocked by Ryan Taylor.
The Gunners continued to dominate proceedings and they broke the deadlock through Frenchman Giroud, who received the ball from Danny Welbeck, before beating Tim Krul.
Four minutes later and Giroud would be celebrating once more as he beat Mike Williamson to a corner and headed in past the helpless home keeper.
The home side did see more of the ball in the second half as Moussa Sissoko and Sammy Ameobi tested Arsenal stopper David Ospina and the former would beat the Colombian keeper to give Newcastle a hope.
However, Arsene Wenger’s side remained in control and withstood some late pressure to secure another Premier League win on their road to qualify for the Champions League.