At 2-0, the crowd was in denial phase.  But they were shortly to move past denial into grief, and then only minutes later they were to achieve the coveted psychiatric phase in which suicidal thoughts predominate.

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3-0 Arsenal:  The Gunners looked like a snap away from scoring each time they took the ball.  Walcott brushpopped around several Newcastle defenders into the right post of the net and then crossed over to the Gunners' striker, that being Robin van Persie, the best player on the great Dutch team that just played the World Cup final.

van Persie used his off foot to thump the ball into the net and it was 3-0 Arsenal, ten minutes in.  The announcers were apoplectic.

NFL equivalent:  28-0, late in the first quarter.  NBA equivalent:  up 30 points early in the second.  MLB equivalent:  up 10-0 in the third inning.

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4-0 Arsenal:  The Gunners' fine wing defender, Bacary Sagna, grabbed 39 kinds of space down the right side and leisurely crossed a parabola onto the head of van Persie, who headed the ball in as though practicing against junior players.

Here we have 35-3 Houston, at least.  Throughout the rest of the first half, Arsenal pressured and were unlucky not to be up 5-0 or even 6-0 at half.  The TV cameras panned back and forth across the Newcastle crowd, showing fan after fan near to weeping.

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Newcastle Up a Man:  About 20 minutes into the second half, Newcastle's Joey Barton took a flying run, doubled up his knees and hit Abou Diaby shin-and-knee high with a type of martial arts triangle (ostensibly going for the ball).

Dr. D has no clue how Barton did not break Diaby's leg with this tackle -- and if he had, that would have been four such horrible injuries inflicted on Arsenal in the last four years.

Diaby pushed Barton, and for this was sent off.

This left Arsenal without its three "holding" (defensive) midfielders -- Song, Denilson, and Diaby -- but that's like saying the Oilers lost their free safety at 35-3 up.

Dr. D was a bit disappointed that with a 10-vs-11 situation, he might not be seeing goals Five and Six.

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