Newcastle 0 Arsenal 2
02/03/02: Arsenal joined Manchester United at the top of the English premier league tonight with a well-deserved 2-0 away win over fellow title hopefuls Newcastle United.
First-half goals by Dennis Bergkamp and Sol Campbell maintained Arsenal's remarkable unbeaten away league record this season and earned a measure of revenge for Newcastle's 3-1 win at Highbury in December -- the last time Arsenal lost.
Arsene Wenger's team have 57 points but trail Manchester United, who visit Derby County on Sunday, on goal difference.
Liverpool, who won 2-0 at Fulham earlier today, are third on 56, with Newcastle down to fourth on 55. Fifth-placed Chelsea are now 11 points adrift of the Champions League places after their 2-1 defeat at Charlton Athletic.
Arsenal went ahead after 11 minutes with a goal reminiscent of their classic second in Wednesday's 4-1 Champions League thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen.
Inevitably it began with Patrick Vieira winning a tackle deep in his own half. He fed Bergkamp, who exchanged passes with Pires before spinning to escape Nikos Dabizas on the edge of the box and tucking the ball past Shay Given.
Newcastle reacted well but for all their possession they desperately missed the pace and guile of striker Craig Bellamy, out for several weeks with a knee injury.
It was Arsenal who struck again four minutes before the break when Campbell arrived at the far post to outmuscle Dabizas and head home a Bergkamp free-kick.
Newcastle, unbeaten in nine league and cup games, would have gone top with victory, and they came close to pulling one back in the 57th minute when Alan Shearer's flashing header was palmed away by David Seaman.
However, Arsenal, who started without leading scorer Thierry Henry, the latest in a long line of injury problems, always looked dangerous on the break with Lauren and Oleg Luzhny both going close.
Newcastle were unable to make any impression on the reshuffled Arsenal defence and the only real positive to come out of the game was a first appearance of the season for striker Carl Cort, who came on as a substitute 10 minutes from time.
Both teams have midweek league games, Arsenal against Derby and Newcastle at Liverpool, before meeting again next Saturday -- same time, same place -- in the FA Cup quarter-finals. -Reuters