‘Mesut said that I could take the free-kick!’

Granit Xhaka scored his first free-kick for us on Saturday with an absolute beauty into the top corner from 25 yards.

Mesut Ozil added a coolly-taken second and both goalscorers spoke after the game. Here’s what they said:

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• Unai Emery's press conference: every single word 
• Our head coach assesses Lucas Torreira's performance 
• The verdict on Ozil's 200th performance

on whether that was almost a perfect away performance…

GX: No, not really. I think it was a difficult start for us in the first 20 minutes. After, we were in the game. The second half went very well for us and I think it was an important three points for us.

on if there was any doubt about who’d take the free-kick for the first goal…

GX: Yeah, Mesut said as well that I could shoot! We try it a lot in training and I was happy to score.

on Ozil’s goal on his 200th Arsenal appearance…

MO: I’m happy. The most important thing was to take the three points here. Congratulations to the whole team on playing very well. I know that Newcastle, especially at home, are very good and aggressive, but we showed character, gained the three points and we’re happy now.

on playing under Emery…

MO: I’ve said in the past that I’m very happy to play for Arsenal. The new coach knows what he wants, the team have accepted that and the whole team supports him. We have a good relationship with him and you can see that especially today as well. When we score, the whole team is happy, even the players who don’t play so many minutes. You see we are one team that wants to reach our goal. We are happy to take the three points.

on if the team are building momentum…

GX: We know it’s an important week for us. We now have four games at home, having won two games away, which is more than last year! We are happy to win today.