Good afternoon and welcome to our live text coverage of Arsenal v Newcastle United at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger has only lost five out of 44 games against Newcastle, and this encounter is going his way, too.

Hayden is the first player of the afternoon to be booked as he is punished for a late foul on Wilshere.

It was quite unnecessary, and wasn't his first foul of the match.

Arsenal launch a rapid counter-attack after defending the visitors' set-piece. Lacazette and Ozil play a delightful one-two, but the German international can't quite squeeze the ball past Elliot from a tight angle and Lejeune clears behind for a corner.

The Gunners are unbeaten in 33 matches against promoted teams, winning 28 of them, since losing at QPR in March 2012.

On this showing, they look like extending that run to 34 games.

Iwobi charges forward through the centre of the field and has plenty of options. Ultimately, he chooses the wrong one as he plays the ball backwards.

Newcastle win a free-kick which they play short to Murphy. The winger has time and space to pick out a team mate but his cross is deep and gathered by Cech.

Lovely one touch football from Arsenal. Wilshere then tees up Xhaka for a shot, but the Swiss international screws his shot wide from 25 yards.

Newcastle have conceded 16 goals in their past six matches - and they look incredibly vulnerable this afternoon.

Arsenal come forward once more, as Sanchez's cross picks out Bellerin but the Spaniard's first-time volley is wild. Had Ozil been there instead, well the outcome may have been very different...

Wow, that was something special. And now that the deadlock is broken, will the floodgates open?

A stunner by Ozil gives the Gunners the lead after 23 minutes! Sanchez's shot is blocked but Newcastle fail to clear. Ozil back-peddles and catches the ball sweetly with a left-footed half-volley from the edge of the box which rifles into the roof of the net.

Arsenal have dominated possession but it appears they are lacking confidence in the final third - hardly surprising after four games without a win. Their final ball is lacking quality.

Newcastle have everyone except Joselu behind the ball at the moment. They do well to break up Arsenal's latest attack, but Perez asks too much of Joselu with his pass.

Ozil floats the free-kick into a packed Newcastle penalty area but the visitors manage to scramble the danger clear.

Merino uses his hand in midfield and Stuart Attwell awards Arsenal a free-kick, with Ozil standing over the ball.

After scoring five goals from seven shots on target in their win over Huddersfield at the end of November, Arsenal have scored only two goals from 25 shots on target in their three league games during December so far.

Maitland-Niles charges forward, and tries to do it all on his own! He skips past, one, two defenders before screwing his shot inches wide of Elliot's far post.

Sanchez is teed up for a shot after a lovely bit of football by Ozil and Lacazette, but the Chilean fires over from the top of the Newcastle penalty box.

Incredibly, this is Arsene Wenger's 808th Premier League game in charge of Arsenal. Only Alex Ferguson has more, with 810.