Chris Hughton said:

"With Andy (Carroll), it's about making sure that all the headlines he is making are on the back pages. He is a young man, he has made mistakes, but he has got to make sure he learns from those mistakes, and I am quite sure he will.

"He is an environment here where he is getting a lot of support from the club, certainly the staff and the supporters, and I am quite sure his concentrations will be very much on football, 100 per cent.

"Young professional footballers are easier targets. They have a different lifestyle, as people see it. They are young, privileged men and that's how people see it. They have got to make sure they don't get caught up in the pitfalls of it all.

"All we can do for our part is support him and create an environment in which he can flourish. At the moment, he is a young man who is playing very well on the back of an excellent performance at Arsenal. The reason why we gave him that number nine shirt is because we saw that potential in him, and we hope that continues.

"He is a player in form. He is, of course, a little bit different to a lot of the other England strikers at this particular moment, which perhaps sets him apart. He is an old-fashioned centre-forward, he is left-sided and has a prowess in the air. He is certainly different.

"He is still developing his game, he will have bad periods, he will have ups and downs as all centre-forwards do, but at the moment, he is a player playing very, very well.

"He's providing the team with a wonderful platform up front and scoring goals as well. The most important thing is that his mind is very much concentrated on doing the best job he can for this football club. He has a prowess in the air but he has other aspects in his game. He gives us a mobility that stretches defences. He has a way to go and is working on other aspects of his game. 

"I would love to see him picked for Newcastle United, that's all I'm bothered about. There was no question he would play after what has been written about him. I made a selection based on the continuity in the last couple of games. Andy is mentally very strong and not difficult to manage.

"This is a team that worked hard to get promotion back to this division. They know where they want to be. This result showed what it meant to everyone. 

"It was a magnificent team effort. It is a very difficult place to come and get a result and come and get a victory. You know before the game they are a side that will have the majority of possession, they had quality to bring on, difficult day. 

When told his side actually enjoyed 51% of possession: 

"That is news to me. That is an achievement. The way they play, the type of players they have, there won't be many teams that come here and have more possession.

"You have to be resilient as a team I thought we defended very very well. We wanted that break and Andy Carroll provided it. There's been a lot that has been spoken about my contract. There is not anything that I can do. All I can do is win as many matches as I can."

As the teams took to the field on Sunday lunchtime, the Emirates PA aired "The Wonder of You" by Elvis Presley. By full time though, "The Wonder of Hugh" would have been rather more appropriate, after the United boss masterminded a success that may just have given him even more personal satisfaction than last week's triumph over the mackems.

That's not just because the former Spurs player and coach put one over on his erstwhile North London rivals in their own swanky pad, but also that he'd overseen a disciplined team display that executed a game plan designed to stifle opposition who can be lethal, given time and space. Despite (or maybe because of) Calderwood's departure, there was pleasing evidence of progression from the last league loss, at Manchester City.  

Unlike last week, this was also a victory untainted by a significant sending off - Koscielny's dismissal in the final seconds having less bearing on the scoreline than Bramble's ejection, Arsenal having just about run out of ideas some ten minutes earlier.

That the win came after another day of lurid tales off-field happenings was almost inevitable, as details of the post-derby celebrations enjoyed by the goalscorer and his captain came to light. If half of it what was written is true, then it's fair to say that "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" won't be on heavy rotation in Darras Hall...   

United's number nine though hogged the headlines on both front and back pages with another display of energy, stamina allied to flashes of brilliance. If anything, it was slightly less wonderful than the mammoth effort against the mackems, where he seemed to appear simultaneously in attack and defence. Here though he scored the goal his performance the previous week had warranted - and all in front of the watching England manager, who had made it up from his central London bedsit.

As had been the case in the single goal success at Goodison, there were some elements of good fortune - Cesc Fabregas hitting the bar with a free-kick and Theo Walcott crashing an effort off the crossbar in particular - but there were also moments of magic like Tim Krul's magnificent first half save to defy Samir Nasri.

It's hard to find a weak link in the Magpies side, with the superb Cheick Tiote occupying the area in front of the defence and supplying valuable contributions in both creating and destroying moves. So much of the improved form and comfort shown by Coloccini and Williamson is down to the man from the Ivory Coast being a constant presence in the viciinity of the centre half pairing.

All four of our backline making timely tackles and interceptions though, with Jose Enrique banishing thoughts of previous personal nightmares (and injury woe) on this ground. Danny Simpson meanwhile looked back in the groove after his belated start to the season, previous right back incumbent James Perch now a rapidly diminishing memory.

Joey Barton equally paid back a further chunk of what is owed to employers and supporters with another hard but fair display, thankfully avoiding some of the gratuitous kicking of the Carling Cup game and his last outing here for us (when he'd just got out of prison). That assist count also continues to climb steadily, while his tracking back to assist Simpson is admirable.

Nolan and Gutierrez also sweated for the cause, with the latter doing as much work covering as crossing. Carroll took the limelight but Shola Ameobi also had one of his best games, happy to drop out wide, holding the ball up and making a nuisance of himself all afternoon before being replaced late after picking up a knock.

Despite leaving van Persie, Fabregas, Arshavin and Song at home in midweek, Arsenal's marathon Champions League trek to the Ukraine looked to have contributed to a jaded display, with Walcott rather less noticeable than in the League Cup tie - something that wasn't wholly accountable to the more experienced defence we fielded here.  

Fabregas in particular looked to be in a particularly bad fettle and was lucky to escape with just one yellow card after two or three unpleasant challenges that referee Mike Dean chose to ignore.

Enough of the on-field analysis though - for the Newcastle fans this was another Sunday full of joy and wonder that rather unexpectedly kept the party going - and these 1.30pm kickoff do leave plenty of post-match drinking time....

Initial worries about the home side building up a head of steam dissipating, to be gradually replaced by pleasure at a job being well done. Having said that, it was still something of a bolt from the blue when the goal was scored.

If there was a worry in the closing stages, it was that our eagerness to press forward for a killer second may have had disastrous consequences. Having said that though, the two shots Carroll had were worth seeing - one a cannonball volley that whistled past the goal and the other a wild hoof of stunning power that sent the ball into orbit. Had that connected with someone, it really would have broken their "****ing jaw"....

By no stretch of the imagination did United try and see out the second 45 minutes and there was only limited recourse to time-wasting, with Krul looking to have been genuinely caught and requiring treatment late on. And Ameobi found himself chivvied along by an anxious Kevin Nolan when meandering off the field to be replaced by Nile Ranger.

The pressure looked to be telling on some faces in the away section in the latter stages, but the three substitutions did little to help Arsenal, Bendtner's introduction seeing them dispense with the more measured approach and almost playing into our hands. That allowed the final few minutes to pass in a slightly less stressed atmosphere in the seats, the sending off making four minutes of added time a virtual irrelevance. 

There's no time to party though or reflect on recent glories, with the imminent arrival of sides led by messrs Allardyce and Hughes on Tyneside. With the possible exception of 'Arry Redknapp (and the resting thespian Phil Brown), only Steve Bruce is ahead of Big Sham and the Welsh windbag in our most loathed Premier League manager stakes.    

Having sent that clown packing last week, it would be nice to wipe the sneer off the next Real Madrid/Inter Milan boss and then set about Hughes - who is yet to lose at SJP as a manager in four visits, and only rarely failed to get a win bonus at Gallowgate as a (sneaky, cheating, dirty) player. 

With injuries and suspensions now inevitably set to disrupt what is becoming a settled lineup (three games, three wins with the same starting XI), it'll be interesting to see how those who get pulled into the side cope with playing specific, defined roles - Danny Guthrie, Peter Lovenkrands and Wayne Routledge for instance, and maybe even Leon Best, with Dan Gosling also to appear at some point. 

For now though, keeping this upward trajectory and putting as many points on the board remains the name of the game - further reducing the possibility of going "way down"....

PS: far better to end on a plagiarised comment of our own rather than yet another rotten Elvis pun - this is how we concluded the report of the December 2001 Highbury victory: 

"Putting aside logic and theorising though...We did it, we finally did it. I felt like the football fan out of Ripping Yarns as I marched down the Holloway Road. 3-1, 3 bloody 1. Marvellous. Thank you."   

Change the scoreline but the sentiment remains unaltered nearly nine years later - a fine reminder of just why we do this to ourselves.

Biffa