Vieira’s first-half cracker guns down tigerish Toon

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 1

Patrick Vieira’s deflected strike deep into first-half injury time was enough to claim all three points in a contest which was as close as the scoreline suggests.

The Magpies will count themselves as desperately unfortunate not to have come away with something to show for their efforts. They will feel they should have had a penalty minutes before the Gunners got the decisive goal when Ashley Cole appeared to handle inside the box, although referee Steve Bennett was unimpressed.