Mathieu Flamini's stunning strike fired Arsenal back to the top of the table as Newcastle were left with a distinct feeling of déjà vu.
Newcastle still to score under Keegan
Mathieu Flamini's stunning strike fired Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League as Newcastle were left with a distinct feeling of déjà vu at Emirates Stadium.
Flamini unleashed an awesome 25-yard strike into the top corner of Shay Given's goal in the 72nd minute to end any hopes of a Newcastle fightback, just four days after the Gunners had cruised to a 3-0 FA Cup victory over the Magpies.
The midfielder had earlier produced a pin-point cross for the in-form Emmanuel Adebayor, who scored twice at the weekend, to head home from close range five minutes before the break.
Cesc Fabregas added an emphatic third in the 80th minute, firing home after being set up by Nicklas Bendtner's superb control with the Magpies defence appealing in vain for offside.
Nicky Butt rattled the bar with a free-kick in the closing stages, but Kevin Keegan's return to Newcastle is becoming more of a damp squib as the matches go by, with three games played and no goals scored, although two of those fixtures have been away to the Gunners.
Newcastle - with new executive director Dennis Wise watching from the comfort of the Emirates Stadium premier 'Diamond Club' seats - looked to have plenty of ambition going forwards, particularly down the flanks, if without any end product in the early stages.
Capitalised
But Arsenal soon got into gear and Adebayor almost capitalised on a rash pass from Taylor inside his own penalty area, which Given coolly back-heeled behind as the Togo frontman, with 18 goals already, closed in.
Steve Carr then made a timely block in the six-yard box to clear Bacary Sagna's low cross from the right as Eduardo arrived at the far post.
A lovely interchange between Hleb and Flamini put the Frenchman into the right side of the penalty area.
His chip across goal found Adebayor - but the Togo striker got under the ball and lashed a fierce volley over the crossbar.
However, on 40 minutes, the big African got it right to head Arsenal into the lead.
Flamini was again the provider, this time riding a challenge from Butt and bursting into space before delivering a perfectly-weighted cross towards the far post, where Adebayor made no mistake.
Flamini was then called into action at the other end when he cut out James Milner's pass at the near post.
Newcastle were not about to lie down and continued to take the game to their hosts, making use of all available space on the flanks.
After 56 minutes, Newcastle introduced Joey Barton - to a chorus of boos - as David Rozehnal made way.
Arsenal continued to press as they looked to make sure of a return to the Premier League summit, with current leaders United set to host Portsmouth tomorrow night.
Sneaking
On 67 minutes, Given was called into action again when he got down quickly to dive on Flamini's low 20-yard strike, which looked to be sneaking into the bottom right corner.
Eduardo was replaced for the final 20 minutes by Nicklas Bendtner - paring the young Dane in attack alongside Adebayor since their bust-up in the Carling Cup semi-final defeat at Tottenham.
Moments later it was 2-0. Diaby collected the ball by the right touchline, and fed Fabregas. He in turn played it back to Flamini. The midfielder set himself before unleashing a superb strike into the top right-hand corner from 25 yards.
Any hopes Newcastle had of getting back into the match ended when Fabregas made it 3-0 with 10 minutes left from Bendtner's centre.
Adebayor was given a deserved rest when Walcott came on for the closing stages.
By then, though, the hard work had already been done as the Gunners showed little sign of letting up in their title challenge.
Newcastle, however, almost snatched late consolation goal when Butt's free-kick skipped up off the wall and onto the crossbar.
