It’s a glorious autumn day in London.
And Arsenal usually beat Newcastle 3-0.
The Magpies have only won one of the last 15 league meetings between these two clubs.
Arsenal play a possession game.
It’s an attractive, technical game of narrow passing, with few crossfield balls that can be intercepted, and well-timed support runs that are mostly narrow to the ball, rather than diagonal.
Nasri and Walcott are on form. Other key players did not play in the Ukraine in midweek.
So Arsenal should have the ball most of the time against what is still, essentially, a newly-promoted Championship side.
If Newcastle don’t have the ball it’s very difficult for Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan to win headers in the box.
Arsenal should win because Newcastle won’t have the ball.
One of Sunday’s big football stories is that, allegedly, Chelsea want Andy Carroll as Drogba’s long-term replacement.
Carroll is pretty fast for a big target man. He’s raw but developing rapidly. I almost wrote : he’s developing in leaps and bounds. But I thought better of it.
Andy Carroll reminds me of Mark Hateley and if he equals Hateley’s career he’ll have done well.