Robin Van Persie’s brace helped Arsenal score a fantastic 3-0 win over Newcastle United in the Premiership clash at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Arsene Wenger’s side totally outplayed Kevin Keegan’s men, and picked their second victory in three league games after last weekend’s reverse at Fulham. It was, however, the first defeat in this campaign for the Magpies, who had a win and a draw in the first two games.

The Gunners could have had a perfect start as they had a great chance to score in the 3rd minute, but captain William Gallas miscued his shot from centre of the six-yard box sending the ball over the cross bar following a corner by Van Persie.

Kolo Toure was soon denied by an excellent diving save by Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given, who tipped the ball round the post off a low long-range shot from the Ivory Coast international.

The north-Londoners continued to bombard their rivals with attacking intent, and forced a mistake from the visitors following another corner that led to open play and Emmanuel Adebayor’s cross from right side of the penalty area was handled by Charles N’Zogbia leaving no alternative to referee Rob Styles than to point to the penalty spot.

Dutch ace Van Persie took a perfect penalty, slamming the ball past Given into the bottom right corner in the 18th minute.

Newcastle failed to get even a shot on target as most of the time their midfield was pinned in their own half, and there was no supply for Michael Owen and Shola Ameobi up front.

The Gunners continued with their eye-pleasing brand of football, but Fabricio Coloccini in particular, made some important interventions to prevent them from adding to the tally before Given came up with another fine save this time palming Van Persie’s free kick away.

Jonas Gutierrez created a superb chance for the Magpies in the 37th minute, when he drove into the rival area from right channel, before squaring the ball for onrushing Owen. The Newcastle captain’s shot was, however, deflected off his team-mate Ameobi out of play as the latter got in the way.

At the other end, the Gunners were agonisingly close to doubling their lead, but were frustrated to see Adebayor’s shot miss the mark by a narrow margin. However, they did not have to wait for a long time to add to the scoreline.

In a fluid passing move, Adebayor on right side, linked up with Emmanuel Eboue, whose clever back-heel set up the advancing Van Persie for a sweet lunging volley in the 42nd minute.

Gunners keeper Manuel Almunia kept their lead intact at the stroke of the half time interval as he made a crucial save, parrying Owen’s header away following a good delievery from Danny Guthrie.

The Magpies showed improvement from the start of the second half, working hard to create chances. They were unlucky not to have pulled a goal back as Nicky Butt’s excellent flicked header struck the cross bar with Almunia beaten. The Gunners custodian, however, thwarted Guthrie a few minutes later.

But Arsenal put together a wonderful piece of play to knock the stuffing out of their rivals as Denilson scored at the hour mark to make it 3-0 following a string of passes as Samir Nasri and Abebayor combined to set up the young Brazilian midfielder in the box for his first top-flight goal.

Since the goal, the tide turned Gunners’ way and Van Persie could have had his hat-trick but was denied by the framework as his shot from an acute angle from left, rattled the bar, and in the process he also got a knock on the ankle due to a rival player’s tackle. The Dutchman was replaced by Carlos Vela. Gael Clichy then tried his luck in his attempt to score his first goal for the Gunners, but Given was lucky not to concede despite a fumble.

Substitute Vela, who has impressed in the pre-season, was set up by fellow substitute Theo Walcott, but the highly-rated Mexican international’s powerful shot was blocked by Steven Taylor. In the resultant corner-kick, Toure’s point-blank header was straight into Given.

The Irish keeper saved the embarrassment of a drubbing for the visitors as he again came up with a good save off Nasri’s free-kick, before thwarting Vela with eight minutes remaining.

Newcastle were again under the attack, as Gunners attackers mounted a fine move. But Given did his best to close down on Walcott, whose effort was wide of the target.

Keegan introduced controversial midfielder Joey Barton late into the game, and the substitution was greeted with a resounding round of jeers from the spectators after the England international’s recent disciplinary problems that had seen him being jailed.

Teams:

Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, William Gallas (capt), Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Denilson (Alexandre Song 69), Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Eboue (Theo Walcott 73), Robin van Persie (Carlos Vela 63), Emmanuel Adebayor.

Substitutes not used: Lukasz Fabianski, Aaron Ramsey, Johan Djourou, Nicklas Bendtner.

Newcastle United: Shay Given, Habib Beye (David Edgar 89), Jose Enrique (Sebastien Bassong 44), Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Danny Guthrie, Nicky Butt, Jonas Gutierrez (Joey Barton 89), Charles N'Zogbia, Michael Owen (capt), Shola Ameobi.

Substitutes not used: Steve Harper, Ben Tozer, Ryan Donaldson, Nile Ranger.