That sounds very simplistic. Like I posted in the Artetaball thread, Newcastle had by far the toughest opening fixtures of all the PL teams.
I wouldn't make an "either it must be this or that" conclusion from it.
FWIW, I definitely don't think they're on our level. But then again, I also don't think they'll need to be on our level for me to say that Howe has done a better job than Arteta.