Arsenal player ratings: Ozil and Ramsey shine as wasteful Iwobi struggles in win over Newcastle

ARSENAL moved into third in the Premier League for the first time since February 2017 with an encouraging win over Newcastle.

Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette scored for the Gunners, but it was Mesut Ozil that stole the show at St James' Park.

Bernd Leno

Incredibly quiet day at the office for the German shot-stopper. Newcastle had just one shot on target during the match.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles

Looked promising going forward, but seemed to dismiss his defensive duties at times.

Appeared to injure his right knee in the early stages of the second half, but managed to plough through the pain and play on.

Shkodran Mustafi

Was Arsenal's weakest link at the back. Clumsy and reckless. Would have been punished if the Gunners were up against a more menacing side.

Sokratis

His unnecessary foul on Lejeune caused Ramsey's opener to be ruled out. Struggled to deal with Salomon Rondon's pace - particularly in the first half.

Nacho Monreal

Booked for a lunging tackle into Migulel Almiron with his studs showing. Aside from that incident, it was a very straight forward evening for the Spaniard.

Sead Kolasinac

Looked dangerous when he bombed down the left flank and towards the Newcastle defenders, but he struggled to pick out an Arsenal shirt in the box on several occasions.

Matteo Guendouzi

Had the chance to show why he should start ahead of Granit Xhaka - but didn't take it. Was hungry for possession, but too wasteful with the ball at his feet.

Aaron Ramsey

His goal in the 13th minute was disallowed, but the Juventus-bound Welshman hit back and opened the scoring on the half-hour mark with Arsenal's first shot on target.

He is continuing to prove why Arsenal should have done everything in their power to keep hold of him.

Alex Iwobi

The Nigerian ace got into all of the right positions, but that's about it. He continuously lost possession as Lacazette and Co begged for a ball into their feet.

Hauled off for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 60th minute - should have been earlier.

Mesut Ozil

Started his fourth consecutive match for the first time since Unai Emery took charge and it is clear to see why.

The German oozed confidence, was at the heart of almost every Arsenal move and appeared to really enjoy himself - which has been a rare sight this season.

Alexandre Lacazette

Came close to making it 2-0 at the end of the first half, but Matt Ritchie made an incredible clearance off the line. He came to life when Aubameyang was introduced and he scored his 13th league goal of the season with a clever chip.

Found the net again just minutes, but it was controversially ruled out for handball.