Mikel Arteta was pleased with how Arsenal 'outplayed' and 'nullified' Newcastle United as the pressure mounted on Steve Bruce following a fourth straight defeat.
After declaring that the 'gloves were off', following the Magpies' embarrassing display at Sheffield United last week, Bruce vowed that he was going to do things his way against Arsenal.
Bruce became the first Newcastle manager in Premier League history to make eight changes as he switched to 4-4-2 for the trip to the Emirates.
Arteta certainly noticed how Newcastle had fielded a 'different quality of players' with 'more attacking players' and 'more creative players'.
With Callum Wilson, Andy Carroll, Joelinton and Miguel Almiron all included in the starting line-up, Arteta was keen to see 'what they propose' but the black-and-whites ultimately had just one shot on target
As well as offering little going forward, Newcastle were cut open far too easily for all three of Arsenal's goals - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (twice) and Bukayo Saka both took advantage - and the resilience that we often associate with this group again deserted them.
Following Arsenal's 3-0 win, Arteta paid tribute to his side's performance and how the Gunners 'penetrated much better' against what he tellingly believed was 'a very low block'.
"It's part of understanding these types of games," Arteta told reporters on Zoom.
"When the team is able to come out of these games with this type of result and confidence, it helps a lot for the next one because they know that the moment is going to come, that we cannot lose our structure and organisation.
"There were certain things we had to improve at half-time and do better: to be more consistent, quicker and more efficient in certain moments to attack.
"This is great information and, for them, it's great to believe that against this structure, we can play them, we can outplay them, we can nullify them to do very little in our own box and we can come out and score three, four, five goals."
