Arsenal 4 Newcastle 1: Hector Bellerin and Jak Alnwick face new challenges

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At football clubs adversity often provides opportunity and, at the Emirates on Saturday there were signs of two young players taking theirs. Hector Bellerin started this season as Arsenal’s third-choice right-back but within a month of the campaign beginning injuries meant he was thrust into the team in the most demanding of arenas, Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, to face the 2013 Champions League runners-up on their own patch.

Bellerin was far from being the worst Arsenal player on a tough night for the club at Stoke, but nor was he entirely comfortable. Nevertheless, injuries, suspensions and – Arsene Wenger’s critics would add, a lack of defensive cover in the squad – means he now has several matches. As a consequence the 19-year-old is beginning to settle in and against Newcastle United he played with confidence and panache. There was still a booking, when he got into a bad position, but he was a key figure in Arsenal’s first and third goals. With Mathieu Debuchy fit Bellerin is likely to revert to the bench when Calum Chambers returns from suspension but Wenger will be pleased at the promise he has shown.

For Newcastle’s 21-year-old rookie goalkeeper, Jak Alnwick, the challenges will keep coming. The Magpies face Tottenham in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday and host Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby at the weekend. Neither Tim Krul nor Rob Elliot will be fit before the New Year so Alnwick will again be between the posts.

Alnwick, younger brother of Sunderland’s Ben, conceded four at Arsenal – his first start in the professional game - but still impressed with his handling and command of his area. “He looked steady and confident,” said manager Alan Pardew. “He will not get a bigger stage than this – and he had never set foot in this stadium before. We go on with Jak, hopefully he can handle it.”