Mikel Arteta now has a headache ahead of Arsenal's Europa League semi final next week. The Gunners reserves put on a lively, dominant display at St James's Park, and several stars will now fancy their chances of a call up for the second leg at the Emirates on Thursday.
Arteta rested eight men from the 2-1 defeat to Villarreal last week, protecting his supposed first choice line up for the game that will define their season.
But it won't have gone unnoticed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Gabriel Martinelli, both benched for European duty, combined the finish this pedestrian match as a contest.
Hard-running Martinelli wriggled free on the left to fire in a cross that Aubameyang karate kicked home. Time for the pair to be recalled?
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