Jamaal Lascelles backing Newcastle to arrest their alarming run of form

Jamaal Lascelles believes Newcastle have the players to address their current form and highlighted Arsenal’s recent regeneration as the example to follow.

The Gunners eased to a 3-0 victory over Steve Bruce’s out-of-form side on Monday night to condemn Newcastle to a fifth defeat in their last seven Premier League games.

Bruce made eight changes for the game at the Emirates Stadium but the visitors were undone in the second-half as a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace sandwiched a Bukayo Saka strike.

Another loss saw a 1,000-strong supporters group, ‘Toon For Change’, begin to actively campaign for Bruce to be sacked.

But Lascelles feels the club can turn things around, admitting the players are “annoyed” with their recent performances.

“I’ve been in a lot of tough situations over the years and it is just about how you deal with them,” the Magpies skipper told NUFC TV.

“Every club goes through a spell, Arsenal I think went 10 without a win but have turned it around and we have the players to do that.

“So I think it is just important that we stick together, the managers, the staff and the players and keep trying to do the right things and hopefully it gets better.

“Of course, it is always tough. We are just annoyed at ourselves, disappointed with the situation we are in, we thought we would put in a better performance than that.

“First half was alright, second half was terrible so we really need to look at ourselves.”

For Arsenal, a fourth win in five league outings moved them into the top half of the table and continued to ease the pressure following their own poor start to the campaign.

Mikel Arteta’s side were profligate in front of goal in the first half before improving after the interval.

Aubameyang’s double saw him move onto five Premier League goals for the season after his own personal struggles coincided with the team’s poor run of form.

The Arsenal skipper missed a couple of decent chances before breaking the deadlock and Granit Xhaka praised the 31-year-old for continuing to work hard and address his unusual patchy spell in front of goal.

“Everyone knows how important he is for us – not only on the pitch, but off the pitch as well,” Xhaka said of Aubameyang.

“Of course, every player has these moments where it is not going well for them.

“But he has kept going and training hard. Today he helped a lot and I am so happy for him. He scored and helped us.

“We are so happy we took the three points. It was very difficult in the first half, sometimes we put ourselves in trouble.

“But we knew if we scored quick in the second half, the game will be more open. In the end, I think it was an important three points.”