Newcastle United and Arsenal played out a uninspiring goalless draw at St James’ Park on Saturday to kick-off the new Premier League season.

The match itself was overshadow by two second-half incidents involving Joey Barton.

The first saw Arsenal’s Alex Song cynically stamp on Barton’s ankle while the Newcastle midfielder was on the ground.

Luckily for Song neither the referee or linesman saw the incident otherwise he would have been undoubtedly shown a red card.

Then Barton was in the centre of a things again. Gervinho took a dive in the box following a challenge which Barton took exception to and the Newcastle midfielder then needlessly proceeded to man-handed Gervinho to his feet. The Arsenal forward reacted and slapped Barton in the face. Gervinho was sent off and Barton was lucky not to join him.

What the FA will do to Song and Barton if they review both incidents we’ll have to wait a see.

Back to the game and Newcastle gave debuts to summer signings Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba, while Gabriel Obertan also made his debut after replacing Ba at half-time.

Newcastle lacked much creativity with both strikers looking very isolated. While Arsenal were not their fluid self, resulting in a match that contained a mere five shots on target, only one of which was for Newcastle.

Neither team deserved to win the game and a draw was probably a fair result.

– Match 1
Date: Saturday 13th August 2011
Venue: St James’ Park
Kick-Off: 5:30pm (GMT)
Attendance: 46,894 (3,352 Arsenal)
Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Ryan Taylor; Joey Barton, Yohan Cabaye (Peter Lovenkrands 80), Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez; Shola Ameobi (Leon Best 73), Demba Ba (Gabriel Obertan 46)
Subs not used: Fraser Forster, Mike Williamson, Dan Gosling, Sammy Ameobi

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny; Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny, Thomas Vermaelen, Kieran Gibbs; Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey (Johan Djourou 90); Gervinho, Tomas Rosicky (Emmanuel Frimpong 85), Andrei Arshavin (Theo Walcott 61); Robin van Persie (c)
Subs not used: Lukasz Fabianski, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Marouane Chamakh

Andrew McTernan – Row ‘S’ Army

2011/2012 – Match 1

ARSENAL (H)

Date: Sunday 14th August 2011
Venue: St James’ Park
Kick-Off: 2:30am (AEST), 2am (SA), 12:30am (WA)
Referee: Peter Walton (Northampton)
Australian TV: Live on Foxsports 2

Last 5 Form:

Match Stats:
All Time Head-To-Head: Newcastle 66 wins, Draws 37, Arsenal 65 wins

Odds:
Brought to you in association with…

Newcastle $3.50, Draw $3.18, Arsenal $2.00

Did You Know?
Newcastle have not won any of their last five home matches against Arsenal (four league, one cup). Their last home win over the Gunners was in December 2005 when Nobby Solano’s goal eight minutes from time gave the Magpies victory.

Team News:
Newcastle - Despite returning to training on Thursday following an ankle injury, Shane Ferguson is not expected to start. Midfielder Danny Guthrie (ankle) also remains a major doubt, while forward Hatem Ben Arfa will play no part as he continues his rehabilitation from an ankle injury picked up on the pre-season tour of America.

Arsenal - Midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri have been left out of the Gunners’ squad, while Abou Diaby and Jack Wilshere are both ruled out through injury. Winger Theo Walcott is in contention after recovering from a knock, however Robin van Persie (knee) and Kieran Gibbs (thigh) both face late fitness tests.

Match Preview
Newcastle United start the 2011-2012 season off with a home match against Arsenal this Saturday night at St James’ Park. Neither club can claim to have had an ideal pre-season as both teams come into this match under a cloud.

The Magpies pre-season has included crowd trouble, visa issues, injuries and importantly the sale of both Kevin Nolan and Jose Enrique, while Joey Barton has also been transfer-listed and looks the next person to exit the club. These departures, and the sale of Andy Carroll in January, have robbed the squad of its most influential and best performing players of the last two years. While there has been additions made with Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Demba Ba, Mehdi Abeid and Gabriel Obertan all coming in, the team now has a transitional feel to it that lacks proven quality and established Premier League footballers in key areas.

Arsenal themselves have had troubles too. Both Gael Clichy and Denilson have left the club, while the worst kept secret of the last two years appears to be happening with captain Cese Fabregas finally making his big move to Barcelona. To make matters worse Arsene Wenger is struggling to keep hold of playmaker Samir Nasri with both Manchester clubs chasing after the 24 year-old French International, which has resulted in Wenger not considering Nasri for the opening weekend.

The last time these two sides met was a classic, back in February Arsenal went 0-4 up after only 26 minutes before Newcastle staged a remarkable second-half comeback to level the match 4-4 with a brilliant late strike from Cheik Tiote. (Therefore, this game surely has 0-0 written all over it!)

As this is a Newcastle home game it is crucial for manager Alan Pardew to play a 4-4-2 formation and attempt to take the game to Arsenal, as we may never have a better chance to catch the Gunners so unsettled. However, the exit on Friday of Enrique means Pardew is short of options at left-back, with Shane Ferguson only returning to training this week, it means Ryan Taylor should come into the side at left-back or Danny Simpson will swap over to the left. With that in mind fingers crossed Theo Walcott is not considered fit enough to start or we may get destroyed down our left hand side.

In the centre of midfield Pardew has a tricky decision to make with Dan Gosling having a very encouraging pre-season, will he decide to start new signing Cabaye or play Gosling alongside the rock that is Cheik Tiote. Upfront I’m expecting Demba Ba to make his debut alongside Shola Ameobi.

Finally what about Joey Barton? With Barton now returning to training with the first-team have enough bridges been re-built in recent days for him to start or will new signing Obertan make his debut? Personally, I don’t think Pardew will play Barton given how public the row has been over the last two weeks, but stranger thinks have happened.

My Starting XI:
Tim Krul
Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Ryan Taylor
Gabriel Obertan, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez,
Shola Ameobi, Demba Ba

After a 6 months to forget with Newcastle United officially becoming a selling club again, it will be nice to forget about all that and watch the Toon play some football in anger. And we may just catch Arsenal on the hop so you never know… HOWAY THE LADS!

Andrew McTernan – Row ‘S’ Army