Arsenal 3 Newcastle Utd 0:Michael Owen will almost certainly feature in Fabio Capello's first England squad, to be announced next Saturday night, despite having scored only one goal in his last 11 games and looking short of touch and confidence as he and his Newcastle team-mates ushered Arsenal into the fifth round of the FA Cup. Theo Walcott, by contrast, will not be expecting to see his name on Capello's list.
As Arsene Wenger remarked last week, the boy who went to Germany as a 16-year-old two summers ago has not made the desired progress. Individual players evolve at different rates, however, and as Saturday's tie progressed there were signs that Wenger's belief in Walcott's talent is not misplaced.
After several months of attempting to ease his passage into first-team football by stationing him on the right wing, the manager picked him for the second match in a row alongside the main striker, which is where Walcott hopes to establish himself. But in a match through which Arsenal hoped to rediscover the equilibrium so badly disturbed in the 5-1 League Cup defeat by Tottenham, his first couple of touches supplied further ammunition to those who believe he lacks the substance to fulfil the promises made on his behalf.
It was a cartilage injury to Tomas Rosicky in the ninth minute, however, that forced Wenger into a rethink. The decision to bring on Eduardo da Silva entailed redeploying Walcott in the winger's role for which, apart from his prodigious speed over the ground, he is inadequately equipped, and once more there were fumbling touches.
But midway through the first half there was a piece of calm control and distribution that allowed Abou Diaby to send in Eduardo for a fierce volley which Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given beat away. It was the first sign, but not the last, that the harshest judgments may be premature.
After sharing the honours with Newcastle during a goalless opening 45 minutes in which Alan Smith saw his shot headed off the line by Gael Clichy and a fully match-fit Owen would have reached a low cross from Stephen Carr, Arsenal certainly dominated the second half. Emmanuel Adebayor settled the outcome with two emphatic shots from the right side of the area.
The errant header with which Nicky Butt met Cesc Fabregas's free-kick was no more than a gratuitous postscript to the match.
To Kevin Keegan, Newcastle's collapse illustrated the effects of injuries and absences on a small squad. "Playing the way we did in the first half, you would have thought we were a top-four side," he said. "We had a lot of possession and we got some good situations. When I look at the squad, we're built to play. But our big problem at the moment is the final pass. In the second half we couldn't even pick out a good pass in our own half and that was our downfall in the end. We just encouraged them. You keep giving them the ball back and suddenly they plant one in your net."
