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Arsenal tasted defeat on the road in the Premier League yet again on Saturday afternoon after a lacklustre performance saw them loose 1-0 to Newcastle at St Jame’s Park.
Going into the first game of match week 10 in the Premier League, the Gunners had just come off the back of a dominant 3-0 victory at Preston North End to book their place in the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup, where they will face Crystal Palace. Similarly, Newcastle had advanced to the same stage of the competition, with an impressive 2-0 home victory against Chelsea.
Despite the win against Maresca’s side in the week, Newcastle had been out of form for a while beforehand, failing to win a league match since beating Wolves in mid-September. Arsenal had also been struggling in the league also though, loosing to Bournemouth in their last league away match and allowing Liverpool to come back from a loosing position twice in a 2-2 draw at The Emirates last weekend.
Arsenal would start the game on the front foot, controlling possession and keeping Newcastle pinned into their own half. However, a quick breakaway in the 12th minute would see a returning Joe Willock get the ball out to Anthony Gordon on the right hand side, who would whip a phenomenal ball into Swedish striker Alexander Isak, and his header went flying past David Raya to send the Gallowgate Stand into an excited frenzy. 1-0 Newcastle.
Arsenal would continue to dominate from here, with Bukayo Saka getting closer and closer to an equaliser seemingly, but strong defensive performances from Lewis Hall and Dan Burn were able to prevent his fortunes down the right hand side.
Arsenal would come close when a Declan Rice corner would be whipped in with pace, before a scrappy brawl in the box would fall for former Newcastle midfielder Mikel Merino to fire an effort at goal, only to be blocked on the line by Lewis Hall and cleared away much to the relief of those in black and white in the Leazes stand.
The rest of the first half would see Arsenal to continue to dominate, but a lack of quality in the final third would see a lack of clear cut chances, so Mikel Arteta’s side would head into the break 1-0 down.
In the second half, the offence would remain stale for Arsenal, as it would remain a quiet afternoon for the likes of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli. As belief began to grow for the magpies, Arteta would finally decide to make some changes in the 61st minute, when Oleksandr Zinchenko and young midfielder Ethan Nwaneri would replace Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli.
These changes wouldn’t disrupt Arsenal’s misfortunes in attack however, as firm Newcastle defending continued to refute their efforts. Newcastle would make some more chances, with the likes of Joe Willock and Joelinton working hard in midfield to generate chances of their own that David Raya would match with saves each time.
Arguably Arsenal’s best chance of the game would fall in a last gasp effort however, when a fierce whipped ball in from Bukayo Saka would find Declan Rice unmarked at the back post from almost 3 yards out, but the England midfielder would get his timings wrong in his jump and fail to make any meaningful contact with the ball, a chance you’d expect a player of his quality to bury.
Though Arsenal would fight until the end for a point, in the end they simply did not have enough to beat Nick Pope between the sticks, and Newcastle would hang on for a massive 3 points and beat Arsenal yet again at St James Park, a feat they’ve pulled off 3 times under Howe’s time at Newcastle. Full time: Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal.
Back to back defeats see Arsenal drop to 5th, 7 points off the leaders Liverpool and 5 away from Manchester City. Newcastle currently sit in 10th, though Fulham vs Brentford tonight can change this.
After a tough Champions League fixture against Inter Milan this week, the games won’t get easier for Arteta’s side as they face Chelsea and Nottingham Forest in their next games. Newcastle now turn their attention to a very in form Nottingham Forest side next Sunday afternoon, before facing West Ham and Crystal Palace to wrap up their November fixtures.
