Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal: Gunners take late, but deserved, three points

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

It’s very rarely routine at St James’ Park, and yesterday was another day when we could be sitting here talking about controversy before we talk about football. Thankfully though, Arsenal dug deep to take three points with a couple of late goals, and more than anything else, that’s where the focus should be.

The first half, up until the point of their goal, was probably the best football we’ve played this season. We made that stadium quiet with how well we controlled the game. Eberechi Eze could have scored a couple but for some fine goalkeeping from Nick Pope; Leandro Trossard crashed a shot off the post after a slick passing move; Viktor Gyokeres and Bukayo Saka were lively; and I think we should have had a penalty.

The ball broke for Gyokeres, he touched it beyond the keeper but in doing so it barely brushed the foot of Pope who then clattered the striker. All this debate about how the keeper ‘got the ball’ seems to overlook the fact it was the Arsenal man who did that first, and the second touch was accidental/inconsequential. After initially pointing to the spot, VAR recommended Jarred Gillet review it, and he decided there was ‘no foul’, and overturned his decision.

It will open up all kinds of discussions about ‘clear and obvious’, and how games are now being micro-managed from TV monitors despite the fact PGMOL chief [insert your own adjective here] Howard Webb continues to say that’s not what they will do. I think the incredulous looks from the Arsenal players and the Arsenal manager told you plenty, and on a ground when we’ve been hard done by before, it was hard not to feel like we were in another helping.

That wasn’t helped when Cristhian Mosquera conceded a corner he didn’t need to, and from that Newcastle scored the opening goal. I love Gabriel, but I don’t think that’s any kind of foul, and certainly not sufficient to rule out a goal. He felt contact and went down, when even a cursory attempt to jump for the ball might have been enough to stop Nick Woltemade getting such good purchase on the header. After that, we fell into Newcastle’s trap of playing the remainder of the first half the way they wanted us to, riled up and crotchety, rather than with the calm efficiency we had displayed to be on top before that.

I don’t think our second half performance quiet matched the first, but a big part of that was the fact Newcastle had something to hang onto, and sat deeper. That age of old issue of how we break down a team in a low block. There were moments though. A lovely ball from Martin Zubimendi saw Jurrien Timber’s header denied by another great save; Eze hooked a Trossard pass over the bar; Gyokeres slipped at the key moment as he was about to shoot.

Mikel Arteta changed things, taking off Riccardo Calafiori and Bukayo Saka for Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino. I will say I was a bit puzzled by the strategy there and where it left the team in terms of shape, but clearly there was some method to the madness. It took a while to manifest itself, but when we took a short corner and Declan Rice delivered a cross, Merino’s header drew us level. It’s a really, really smart finish too, not an easy one to pull off, and the Spaniard’s prowess in the opposition box is something we’ve seen a lot in 2025. He’s not the DM people make him to be, and with the giant Woltemade off the pitch, he was another tall attacking presence who made his mark in a really important way.

Almost immediately there was a penalty shout up the other end for handball by Gabriel. I can’t lie, my heart was in my mouth, hoping that the issue of proximity would rule it out as VAR reviewed. They decided there was a touch on the ball from the Brazilian which meant it wasn’t handball, but the ref had initially played on so there’s a slight difference between this and the Pope/Gyokeres incident in the first half. In the end, no penalty, and Big Gabi would have the last laugh.

There’s some symmetry to the fact we conceded a goal from a corner we didn’t need to concede, and Newcastle conceded one from a corner they didn’t need to concede. In injury time, Pope tried to set Elanga free with a quick kick-out but played the ball straight to the Arsenal midfield. Rice’s subsequent cross was headed behind for a corner, and substitute Martin Odegaard – who made a real difference when he came on – delivered the ball from which Gabriel headed home. Again, look at how many Newcastle players are around him. Sometimes the idea a player wanting it more is steeped in narrative, but on this occasion I think it’s right.

The Arsenal players celebrated wildly, not just for the three points yesterday, but it felt like exorcising some painful demons of seasons past. Saliba booted a ball into the sky. 15 year old Max Dowman charged down the touchline to get involved. Arteta and his staff went mad on the sidelines. And they had every right to. As I said in yesterday’s preview, this wasn’t a must-win game for Arsenal, but it was the kind of game that could throw down a bit of a marker about this team and this title race, and I think we did that.

Asked about that on Sky afterwards, Arteta dismissed that idea as something Arsenal had to do to validate external opinion, but admitted it was a statement of sorts:

Well, for ourselves, yes. Just to prove because they’re a terrific team, it’s so difficult to play against. We already played at Old Trafford, we played at Anfield, we played Man City, we already played here very early in the season. And again, the level of consistency and quality we showed in the performance today was top.

I think the way we played, the courage, the determination, the intelligence and the quality that we showed today against this team, it was very difficult to do.

I make him right there, and if there was disquiet last week after a 1-1 draw at home against Man City, there ought to be equal amounts of credit for this side after doing what they did yesterday. That is a tough place to go, Newcastle are physical and allowed to play the game in a way that few other teams are in this league. I don’t know why that’s the case, but it is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a centre-forward get manhandled and thrown around as much as Gyokeres was yesterday without a single decision going in his favour. According to the stats, he wasn’t fouled once!

What are we expected to think about VAR when it can re-referee a moment where a player might get the faintest touch on the ball, visible only in the slowest of motion, but completely ignores things like this? And to be as fair as possible, Gabriel getting involved with Woltemade after their goal was unnecessary and daft, and had the Newcastle player gone down clutching his face – like some of them would – he might have been in trouble.

But, let’s park that. They’re trivial talking points this morning and the story is about Arsenal battling for three points that I think we fully deserved. We just haven’t shown up on our last few visits to Newcastle, and we absolutely did yesterday. 20 shots, 2+ xG, 63% possession, and a show of character to keep going to win the game in the final few minutes.

This has been such a challenging start to the season, I feel like – as Arteta said – the team needed that to really plant foundations for what remains of this campaign. I also feel like the fans needed it too. I don’t think a 1-1 draw with Man City is any kind of disaster really, even if there was plenty to discuss and debate about last week’s game. But I do think, in some quarters at least, some faith has been lost in this team, so to go there and win that game in that manner was really important.

I’ve understood some concerns about how we’ve played this season, but ultimately we now sit two points behind Liverpool. Eddie Nketiah’s late goal at Selhurst Park opened the door for Arsenal, and we walked through that and announced ourselves by doing what we did at St James’ Park again.

‘Remember us?’.

A very, very good day. Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. We’ll have an Arsecast Extra for you in a little while. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

Pod should be out around noon. Until then, have a good one.

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