Gunners dig it out to end year on high

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 1

The Frenchman’s sides haven’t always been synonymous with putting their head in where it hurts, but that is exactly what they did for 90 character-building minutes to ensure the year ended in victory, an outcome they have become somewhat accustomed to in 2013.

To call it a backs-to-the-wall win would be stretching a point, because for all their possession and pressure, Newcastle created scarcely any chances of note, Mathieu Debuchy’s looping far post header in first-half stoppage time coming back off the bar in the biggest let-off for the visitors.