FA Cup - Fourth Round, Premier League Match #24

Arsenal 3 Adebayor2, Butt
Newcastle United 0

Arsenal 3 Adebayor, Flamini, Fabregas
Newcastle United 0

Kevin Keegan had two shots at bringing down Arsenal but failed to even score a goal against the Gunners, which saw his team being eliminated from the FA Cup and remained winless since he made his second comeback to the Geordies.

But for Arsene Wenger, the most important thing for him to emerge from the two encounters was the fact Manu Adebayor has proven he is more than ready to take over from Thierry Henry as Arsenal main source of goals. The lanky Togo striker has scored nine goals from his last seven matches to become the club leading goalscorer.

During the two matches against Newcastle, Adebayor scored using his head, left foot and right foot and demonstrated that he has the strength and determination to hold off challenges from defenders.

Comparisons with the legendary Henry are inevitable but both of them differ in their approach to the game thus it would not be a like to like measurement. However, they share a common commodity which is goals. Now it is easy to see why Wenger is happy with the striker he signed from his former club AS Monaco during the summer of 2007.

One must note that it is not about Adebayor either. Another important player to emerge this season is Matt Flamini who capped a fine performance in the second meeting with a gem of a strike from 30 metres. The French utility player is steadily cementing his place in the middle of the park since the beginning of the season.

The fact that he has yet to sign a new contract with Arsenal is a worrisome situation for many Arsenal fans despite the assurances by both Wenger and Flamini himself. Even though there are a number of players who could easily fill the position such as Gilberto, Abou Diaby and Denilson; losing Flamini would be categorised as a 'disaster' to Arsenal.

The two wins over Newcastle saw Arsenal moving into the fifth round and a showdown with arch rivals manure in Manchester and also moving three points clear of the Red Devils at the top of the Premier League, at least for 24 hours.

Before the visit to Old Trafford sometimes in February, there is an earlier trip to the city with the blue half of Manchester expecting Sven Goran Eriksson to avenge their 1-0 defeat at the Emirates earlier this season, which saw them losing the top spot and Kaspar Schmeichel conded his first goal in the Premier League.

This time around, the red half of the city is equally praying hard for their neighbours to do them a huge favour.

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