Goals from Mohamed Elneny and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Arsenal a much needed win, and a confidence boost ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg.
The Egyptian fired home from the edge of the box in the 6th minute, and a Martinelli assist in the second half provided the skipper with his first goal since the Burnley game on the 6th of March.
There was also a clean sheet for Mat Ryan, but unfortunately an injury to David Luiz which may well end the Brazilian’s season and undoubtedly puts him out of the Villarreal game.
Here’s how the players rated.
Read the Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal – Player Ratings
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Willian played grand blogs, bit harsh
He was fine. Didn’t make any errors and worked hard and even made some positive contributions.
He stands on the ball for 3 seconds, and you think he’s going to do something really smart … and then he passes to the guy he could have passed to 3 seconds earlier.
It’s sad that so many fans cannot give any credit when it’s due. Yes I agree Willian has turned out to be a poor signing but to lambast him when he had a fair game is grossly unfair.
I didn’t think he was that good. Didn’t fck anything up but didn’t really do much either. Similarly, didn’t think bellerin was all that great and neither was Odegaard…all 3 average for me.
I think you have to look at who is playing with an eye on breaking into Mikel first team plans.
bellerin did, odegaard did but willian didn’t in my eye.
Just goes to show that your eye test isn’t accurate.
This exactly sums him up. No urgency, no drive. Slow and predictable.
Bit like Granit then….
exactly. he was one of our better players today, and he has been good in recent weeks too. give the guy a break!
Yeh I thought he was alright too and certainly better than he had been. Pass towards the end to release Bellerin was very nice.
Considering the fact that blogs gave almost all the players who started at least a 7, I don’t see what Willian did wrong to have gotten a 6.5. He wasn’t grand, but he also wasn’t any worse than the others. I agree blogs was a bit harsh on him.
Blogs must refine his objectivity a little bit. Leave sentiments and favouritism aside. Otherwise, a good job by blogs!
Agree. gets a 7 like the rest.
8.5 by his recent showing
Think Chambers and Gabriel could be an interesting pairing. Probably our two fastest CBs if we want to play a high line
I thought this was what was going to happen when Luiz got injured last month, as he seems like the most natural Luiz replacement with his passing ability. Curious to see which pairing we go with on Thursday.
Chambers fast?
Er than holding
And Mari.
For a CB, yes
Faster than you son.
He didn’t get left for dead by Maximim – was quite impressed at how he kept in touch with him on that late break
Maxima wasn’t at his maximum speed and form though.
And you know this how?
Either way – a 6’3″ defender wasn’t embarassed for pace by the one of the fastest striker in the Prem.
I also thought I watching another match, since I couldn’t see the fast Chambers.
Someone criticised Chambers on here a week or so back for being slow (might even have been Blogs?) – I was pleasanty surprised at how he stayed with Maximim on that late break he had…
between them and the mari-holding axis, and saliba due to return, cb looks well sorted for once in a long time. if we keep bellerin and tierney stays healthy, that should have us covered for defensive positions next year.
Mike Dean quietly dropping a 10/10 performance.
Good to see Mike Deans Ego got the bank holiday weekend off too
I’m surprised he,turned up for work today. Thought he’d be part of the protest
Glad he showed the red. Idiots commenting on the match were saying it was harsh. How? Defender slid through the back of the player. Thats been a straight red even in FIFA games since 1999.
given our luck in the past I was surprised!
So Martinelli got the highest mark. Guess he won’t be starting any game soon…
If Saka and Pepe are fit to start, Martinelli will have to wait and keep contributing, he will get his chances and also others will not be in form forever. I would be interested, if he being played as 9 more often.
I like having all 3 start.
if we can play esr in the ceballos role and saka at 10?
Don’t be silly, having one of our most potent threats on the pitch against an old and shit Villarreal defence wouldn’t be clever enough.
Nothing against Holding, who has done well at times this season, but Chambers is faster, doesn’t seem prone to the lapses in concentration that Holding has occasionally shown, particularly when marking a small but mobile forward from crosses, and can actually pass the ball to one of our players. With Luiz presumably now out for the season, the Chambers/Gabrial partnership would be well worth pursuing I think
i just wish we would pick two and stick with them. can’t be easy with all the chopping and changing.
He may not be flashy, or a “big name”, but I feel like Chambers is the Elneny of our defense. Quietly gives you a solid, if unspectacular, game every time he plays. Which honestly is really what we need right now.
I agree, the Chambers/Gabriel partnership is one I’d love to see more of. They seem to compliment each other well.
Lee Dixon’s classic comment about him a few weeks back: if you don’t stand out as a defender – for good or bad – you’ve done yer job!
Absolutely
Chambers has played how many games at CB? Harsh on Holding to compare his mistakes when he has played like 80% of the games and Chambers has played maybe five this season.
Yep – Rob has this infuriating tendency to dither at key moments, either confidence or decision-making lets him down, or both.
Nothing spectacular but Bellerin was decent today. I think it should be enough to see him start on Thursday over Chambers (maybe Chambers at CB instead?)
I liked the look of Chambers and Gabriel – solid and pacey.
He’s better than anything else we have. Not difficult to see.
Mo Elneny and Martinelli share the man of the match awards. Superb performances guys
elneny i think is one of those guys who is just getting better as he gets older. hope we keep him in the squad for next couple of seasons. he is a good option and seems like a positive influence around the squad.
The problem with Elneny is that he isn’t “amazing”, he doesn’t do amazing things, doesn’t take too much risk, etc. But that can be good in the sense that he almost never makes silly mistakes nor have awful perfomances, averages one but not awful. He only scores crackers tho
With that said, I wouldn’t mind keeping him, he can be a good asset and a good squad player.
not “amazing” but there are plenty of players around that he is just as good as at recycling the ball quickly – jorginho, gueye, marcelino etc. reminds me of gilberto silva a bit. tbh i feel more secure with him there than partey. if partey has decided he now wants to re-invent himself as a no.8 then let him do that and put elneny alongside him. otherwise partey should focus on being the shield and keeping the ball moving. a very nice upgrade for next season for that role would be bissouma at brighton. gets better every time i see… Read more »
I’ve said this here for some time now – all of the above, Dave, makes him the ideal partner to Partey more adventurous style.
Always felt he gets unduly dumped on by too many on here – Blogs included!
I suspect that he’s simply one of those players who performs better the more game time that he gets.
Elneny was one of our most consistent and best players under Wenger’s last season at Arsenal. Once Unai came in, Elneny was pushed to the side. Fans keep overlooking him. Even the great Gilberto Silva has said Elneny is a decent player. Sadly, no one will really remember him
For the bonus rating: I’d fancy a top form Mikel Arteta to partner Partey in midfield any day 😂
Hoping for a nice easy win like that on Thursday
Me too, but I’m not sure we’ll get quite such an easy ride.
How did Steve Bruce not just glue Saint-Maximin to Belllerin and go down that side every time? Also got the pressing wrong against us.
Xhaka was lucky to not get sent off, that 7 is very generous, he was sloppy, gave little going forward and wasn’t tested defensively. Willian put some decent crosses in actually. I think Odegaard had a quiet game too, again 7 very generous. He’s in a good mood, nothing wrong with that of course hehe.
I agree he was a bit sloppy, but he stopped progress down that side all game long. Newcastle had very little success down his side.
They didn’t even test his side enough, I was expecting Saint Maximin to be taking him on more on that side especially after the Xhaka yellow card, but they just look so flat, reminded me of us from September to December
Absolute nonsense. Another Xhaka hater who makes things up. Yes I agree he was fortunate not to get a second yellow card but otherwise hardly put a foot wrong and as usual made some great forward passes. When he was tested defensively he measured up well too. I cannot see where he was remotely sloppy at all. Still hope he reverts to midfield on Thursday with Partey.
He had a few simple passes that he couldn’t make. Wasn’t he sloppy with that yellow card and the other foul where he should have been sent off. He should have got sent off and we would be having very different conversations, stop your rose tinted glasses nonsense and stop sucking his bum for heaven sake
You cannot criticise Xhaka. Martin won’t have it 😂
I thought that reply was bloody defensive lol
Not when he’s criticised unfairly.
You know you can be both right?
xhaka was tested though, positioning wise and covering passes as well as direct threat.
but yeah, he had a sloppy game passing wise but was defensively solid.
if that was luiz, Gabriel, holding, chambers or mari people wouldn’t bat an eye.
Fve – count them – FIVE of his trademark clumsy fouls gave them free-kicks. His stupidity could (and should, by the letter of the law) have had us down to 10 men (again!). On at least 4 occasions balls we were transitioning quickly (for a change!) and it got to him, only for his trademark foot on ball, gesticulate, then pass it back into our half. One particular fizzer, mid 2nd half, from Ode to Ceballos, who bounced it to Granit about a 1/3 of the way into their half. Gabi was racing into space down the left and yet… Read more »
A “9 rating” for the comments …”Apparently made 4 key passes but I can’t remember a single one”. Couldn’t stop laughing
Was this potentially the last time Luiz played for Arsenal?
No he’ll probably get another two one-year contracts for more money
I hope we do extend him another year. He’s been solid this season.
He has to be fair but we have to move on at some stage. He’s bound to be even more error prone next year as he slows down. Plus he’s on £100,000 a week. Sad if it is his last game but could prove too costly to renew for another year.
If he takes a 40% wage cut I’d sign him up.
start negotiations there and thrash out a cheap deal with performance bonus’ and possibly a coaching role with per?
God, when will people learn?
He’s error prone, unspectacular, on huge wages, and getting old.
We have Saliba, who’s been playing great in France and needs playing time. Mavropanos has been good in Germany. We have Holding and Chambers as experienced players who can certainly do the job.
How on earth does it make sense to extend an aging David Luiz for one more season?
Either develop the yougsters or splash out on somebody amazing (which we’ve already kind of done with Saliba).
Luiz is a shit half-measure.
How on earth does it make sense to extend Luiz you ask? Easy, he’s better than holding, better than chambers, better than Saliba and better than mavropanos(!)…an experienced Brazilian international who on his game is light years ahead of the rest of them…so yeah, that’s why we give him another year. Not fkn rocket science. Also, Saliba…ffs…the kid is barely reserves level for us right now everybody needs to calm the fck down about wonder boy Saliba…
Let’s hope the hungry Arsenal show up on Thursday. Anything average and we are out!
————————–Leno———–
———-Holding——-Mari——–Gabriel
—————–Party————–Xhaka——
Pepe———Smith-Rowe—–Odegard——Saka
—————————Auba—————————-
No martenneli?
wtf is that lineup, no full backs/wing backs? no gabi, whom arteta has publicly declared as his love interest?
If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. It’s OK.
I think you don’t get football with a line up like that.
Good playing from martenneli hope to see him playing against unai and co. Bernd Leno should still be out starting goalie for the rest of the season but it’s good to know we have a reliable backup GK
I thought Chambers looked calm and assured – he also showed a fair turn of speed chasing back to defend. A valuable squad member, like Elneny.
Nice warmup game. Hopefully arteta keeps it simple and play everyone at their natural positions. We can make it on thursday. Go on gunners!!@@
Really pleased for Mo, he looked so happy and everyone was happy for him, nice to see the players and especially Willian, standing up for Gabi when he was hurt, great to see Auba back, Matt Ryan was excellent in goal, and sad for David when he was injured again. There’s a lot of togetherness in this team and it’s good to see.
Thought the same thing about Arteta’s touch on the sideline. Sure could use some of that in the middle of our team these days…
I’m glad for the win and everything but this is so fucking frustrating. We can comfortably swat a team aside one game and be utter shite the next. Looking at the league if we had turned just a couple of those tight losses/draws into wins we’d be right up there and everything would look much rosier.
Hope the team puts in a big shift on thursday. Given Man Ure’s game was postponed hopefully the resulting fixture congestion will fuck them up a bit ahead of the final, if we get there too.
This is it, on the final day of the season there’s no part on the table that tells the whole story.
we have had about 8 ridiculous VAR decisions go against us that cost us at least 16 points this season.
its my major gripe when I see Mikel out fanatics.
I can understand you maybe being disappointed in him, but we’ve been unlucky as hell.
Right, because the only argument of the “Mikel out fanatics” is our position in the table. Not that we don’t generate chances, that his line-ups are often bizarre, that he messed up the Saliba situation, that he’s frozen out Nelson, that Willian was signed and gets game time, that Cedric was requested and given a long contract only for Chambers to be the back-up RB and Xhaka the back-up LB, that we don’t know what our defense looks like, that we don’t know what our midfield looks like, that we’re playing an experimental formation with no full backs, no striker… Read more »
Good win but we really need a new midfield. COYG for Thursday!
We forget we also have 4 midfielders out on loan too. If we are short on cash, I wonder if we’d have to find an internal solution? I would consider keeping Guendouzi if he’s sorted his attitude and would keep Wilock, but is he disciplined enough to play deeper? Is Azeez ready?
Mo Nenny…
he’s better than you think he is
Mo Nenny
Blogs – I am now officially concerned for you: Xhaka and Mo’Nenny both 7??
One was clumsy, gave away half a dozen needless free kicks, almost got himself sent off through pure stupidity (and clumsiness).
The other had 98% pass accuracy AND scored our opener???
C’mon – the Nenny-hatred is really counter productive.
Who new Martinelli is decent?!
Everyone but you?
Happy for the 3 points, glad some players stepped up a bit, but when Mari suggested they step on the gas, this wasn’t it. Newcastle is a mediocre Championship side and it took a once in a blue moon hit from Mo and a great touch from Auba to secure. With a few exceptions, should be 6s around.
We need to renew chambers contract asap…guy can easily help a midtable team avoid relagation…he can fetch a cool 20m pounds and it will be great business to whoever gets him
Newcastle will play better and lose. Ditto Arsenal. Auba’s goal was class.
‘Willian… Deserved a 7 but I don’t like him so I marked him down 0.5 for no reason’ – Blogs
It’s just sad at this point.