We’re aiming to catch up with the league leaders in Saturday’s early game at Newcastle United (12.30pm kick-off), as both teams look to return to winning ways in the Premier League.
While we and our opponents comfortably cruised into the quarter-finals of the League Cup on Wednesday evening, both Mikel Arteta and Eddie Howe will be eager to taste three points again after a difficult fortnight at both ends of the country.
History shows that we have won 35 Premier League games against Newcastle, the most a Newcastle team has lost to a single opponent in the competition. 36th would be the perfect way to start a huge week with Inter Milan and Chelsea on the horizon.
Tough times on Tyneside
Despite an impressive start that saw them go unbeaten in their first four games, Eddie Howe’s side have been winless in their five Premier League matches since then, losing to Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea in the last two weeks to leave them 12th in the table. .
An opening day win over Southampton, success over Tottenham Hotspur and a 1-1 draw with Manchester City extended their unbeaten run at home to 10 matches, but a 1-0 loss to the Seagulls ended that as they also failed to score. On their own patch for the first time in 23 league matches.
However, some joy came in midweek as they quickly took revenge on Chelsea by eliminating them from the League Cup with a 2-0 win at St James’ Park, to face Brentford in the quarter-finals.
What managers say
Arteta on Newcastle: “The league position after nine games is very difficult when you see the games they played and some of the situations they went through as well, but they are a great team.
“They’re really well-coached, they’re very enthusiastic. It’s a great stadium to play on, and you know what you’re up against there, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Read more Every word from Mikel Piston ahead of Newcastle
Howe: “It was good to see the performance of a lot of players [in midweek]. A lot of the players who came did no harm to themselves at all.
“I think three games in six days is a challenge for us, especially with the early start again, so we will have to see how the players are physically and choose the team according to their physical condition.”
Team news
Gabriel could return to the team after limping off against Liverpool last week and missing our League Cup win over Preston North End, while William Saliba is available in the Premier League again after serving his ban against Liverpool and also featured for Deepdale.
It remains to be seen whether Ben White suffered a joint injury and missed training this week, while Martin Odegaard, Riccardo Calafiore, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney remain unavailable.
For the Magpies, Jacob Murphy missed the win over Chelsea with a hamstring injury, while Alexander Isak exited that game with a knock that is still being assessed.
Kieran Trippier is also suffering from a hamstring injury, while Sven Botman, Jamaal Lascelles, Callum Wilson and Matt Targett have long-term injuries.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke: Newcastle’s performance levels have been mixed, but the one thing you can guarantee is that the Newcastle side will be strong and full of athleticism in the central midfield. The Guimaraes-Jolinton-Tonali axis is a strong one that tends to raise their level of play on the big occasions. Their battle with our combat engine room could be explosive.
The pace of Gordon and wide receiver Harvey Barnes is also one of their strengths, having scored five of their nine league goals between them and enjoying strong performances against us in the past. It is important that we do not allow Howe’s team to isolate our full-backs with the space around them, so our aim must be to force Gordon and Barnes to move the ball sideways or backwards. Since the speedy Isaac is also a major threat, I don’t expect us to be caught holding a thin line.
While poor finishing has blighted their campaign so far, I feel the Magpies’ weakness is their defensive structure. Fabian Schar looked less comfortable alongside Dan Byrne at centre-back, while full-backs Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall may struggle to cope one-on-one. If our strikers are at their best, we can have a lot of success on the wings. Howe’s ubiquitous back four were pulled down by Chelsea last weekend, and we should look to repeat that.
Calming down the home fans is important at St James’ Park, but Newcastle have been slow to start games too. In the first 40 minutes of games this season, their goal difference stands at -5, trailing in six of their nine matches. Catching them cold in the first half could set us up for the kind of well-controlled away victory that has become our hallmark.
Facts and statistics
Newcastle have won two of their last three Premier League home games against us, the same number they have won their last 19 at St James’ Park.
The last consecutive away loss was in May 2022, the second coming at Newcastle.
We have kept 30 clean sheets against Newcastle in the Premier League, which is more than any other team in the competition.
We have scored 27 goals from set pieces in the Premier League since the start of last season (excluding penalties); More than any team in this period. Our 21 headed goals are also the most goals scored by any team in the competition since the start of last season.
All of Newcastle’s last eight Premier League goals against us have been scored by different players, and have come from open play.
Newcastle have scored nine goals out of 14.3 in the Premier League this season, scoring almost five fewer than expected – only Manchester United have a bigger negative margin in the competition this season.
Alexander Isak averages a goal every 133 minutes in the Premier League, only Andrew Cole (one every 121 minutes) has a better average for Newcastle. The Swede has scored 11 goals in his last 11 league matches at St James’ Park.
Anthony Gordon has been involved in 17 goals in his last 22 home games in the Premier League (10 goals and 7 assists).
Bukayo Saka has been directly involved in 10 goals in eight league matches, the fewest number of games played by an Arsenal player to reach double figures in a single season since Cesc Fabregas in 2009/10 (6 matches).
Read more Saka has been nominated for the Premier League Player of the Month award
Match officials
John Brooks is the midfielder for this encounter, his third time in charge of one of our games after last season’s FA Cup loss to Liverpool and the 3-0 win over Brighton.
Newcastle won four of the seven matches he supervised, but only one of the last four. In his three Premier League appointments this season, the Leicestershire official has issued 12 bookings and earned one penalty.
Referee: John Brooks
Assistants: Simon Bennett, Dan Robathan
Fourth official: Darren Bond
Video Assistant Referee: Jared Gillett
VAR Assistant: Darren Kahn
Recent trips to Thun
Almost exactly 12 months ago, we suffered a controversial 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park when Gordon’s VAR-assisted goal sealed the points, but we can take solace in the fact that we haven’t lost consecutive away games to Newcastle in the league since 1996. .
In May 2023, an Odegaard strike and an own goal from Fabien Schar saw us win 2-0 as we continued to push for the title, while the year before that it was a different story with White scoring an own goal and Bruno Guimarães. He clinched the points to derail our bid to return to the Champions League, and ended our three-game winning streak on Tyneside.
Read more from Al Khazna | 5 classic wins at Newcastle
Live coverage
Tune in to Arsenal.com and the official app just before kick-off for live commentary from Dan Roebuck and Adroan Clarke, who will guide you through all the on-pitch action from the North East as we aim to get back to winning ways.
You can also see which broadcasters are showing the event live wherever you are in the world.
Read more how to watch Newcastle and Arsenal live on TV
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