A lesson learned? Arsenal fans sincerely hope so. Under-fire Mikel Arteta answered his critics with actions, not words with an impressive 2-0 win over Newcastle on Sunday.

There were no more excuses this time, only a clear tactical decision to release the handbrake and grab an impressive, dominating and stylish victory.

Arteta’s attacking gamble paid off handsomely as a bold Arsenal silenced St James’ Park, overwhelming Newcastle with a performance that was both thrilling and effective.

While it may not have been flawless, getting it 90% right was more than enough to show everyone the path forward.Many Arsenal supporters breathed a collective sigh of relief when Mikel Arteta announced his starting lineup for Newcastle away on Sunday afternoon.

The Gunners were desperate for a win at St James’ Park after some unimaginative, defensive and confusing tactics and team selections in previous matches.

Many Arsenal fans, pundits and neutrals repeatedly pointed out their opinions on Arteta’s decisions only for the Spaniard to gaslight us all.

The Gunners boss basically told us that we were all wrong and that he had the most attacking goalkeeper and two of the most attacking defenders in the game.

I didn’t know whether to be insulted or amused by his unravelling under the pressure of his shortcomings which resulted in him looking like a bus driver being handed the keys to a Ferrari and told to race Formula 1.

However, against Newcastle, he got it right. Nearly.

The only two mistakes were to start Trossard ahead of Martinelli and Mosquera ahead of Saliba.

Trossard missed a sitter while Mosquera unnecessarily gave away a corner which led to the German Peter Crouch scoring an impressive header for the Toon.

I think that he got these two selections back to front and, had he started Martinelli and Saliba, Arsenal could have won more comfortably.

Those selections aside, Arteta picked an attacking team and deserves credit for finally having a crack at a team by using imaginative, forward-thinking tactics instead of trying to bore teams to death with a defensive midfield and a possession based approach to the game which borders on anti-football.

Arteta’s starting lineup and his substitutions were simply superb demonstrating that he should have a little bit more faith in his team.

The Arsenal boss should play to his squad’s strengths rather than his own insecurity about conceding goals and achieving high possession statistics.

Then he could silence his baffled critics rather than insult them whilst making himself look like somewhat of a muppet.

What a superb result for Arsenal against a strong Newcastle team in one of the most hostile grounds to play at in Europe. Watch out Liverpool.

Surely Arteta won’t go back to his boring style of football and picking negative squads will he? The world hopes not Mikel.

In the end, it was a superb away win for Arsenal after two great headers from Merino and Gabriel helped Arsenal come from behind to beat Newcastle and put them just two points behind league leaders Liverpool.

So, Arteta’s attacking gamble paid off handsomely, proving that this is the Arsenal we have all been waiting for.

The fans, the pundits, and neutrals have seen what this team is capable of when the handbrake is off.

The only question now is for the manager himself: was this a lesson learned or just a one-off?

The world hopes it’s the former, Mikel. If that is the case, then watch out Liverpool.