Arsenal have taken a comfortable 2-0 lead into the halfway stage of their Premier League encounter with out-of-form Newcastle United this evening.
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The hosts came close to breaking the deadlock in the 18th minute when Tim Krul could only punch the ball as far as Nacho Monreal, who sent a volley fizzing past the post from the edge of the box.
Newcastle responded with an opening of their own just two minutes later as Moussa Sissoko skipped past a couple of challenges before curling an effort over the crossbar.
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The opening goal came in the 26th minute as Laurent Koscielny eluded his marker to latch on to Santi Cazorla's free kick, poking the ball past Krul from close range.
Arsenal almost doubled their advantage shortly before the half-hour mark as Lukas Podolski raced on to a chipped ball over the top before squeezing his shot through the legs of Krul, only to see it roll wide.
From the resulting corner, Per Mertesacker rose highest in the area to force a stop from the keeper before Cheick Tiote drilled a powerful long-range effort down the throat of Wojciech Szczesny at the other end.
The Gunners added a second with less than five minutes to go until the break when Mesut Ozil swept home a rebound after Krul had pulled off a fine double save to deny Olivier Giroud twice.
Barney Corkhill
