Monday, December 2, 2024

Report: Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal (inc. goals)

Result: Newcastle United 0-2 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 7 May 2023
Venue: St James’ Park

Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Xhaka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka, Jesus

Subs: Turner, Holding, Tierney, Partey, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Trossard, Nketiah


Martin Odegaard’s fine first half strike and an own goal by Fabian Schar saw Arsenal claim an impressive 2-0 win against in-form Newcastle.

On an afternoon when the home side provided a physical challenge, this was a seriously gritty victory that keeps the Gunners in the title race for a little while longer. It also ensures we can’t finish any lower than second in the table.

Pre-game

There was only one change from the side that started against Chelsea with Gabriel Martinelli taking over from Leandro Trossard on the left wing. That meant Jorginho retained his place in midfield ahead of Thomas Partey and Gabriel Magalhaes, after passing a late fitness test on the ankle he injured in midweek, partnered Jakub Kiwior in defence.

First Half

Following last May’s traumatic visit to St James’ Park, Arsenal needed a solid start to settle the nerves. As expected, the home fans had whipped up a frenzied atmosphere, clearly hoping for another early blitz of a side from north London.

They nearly got what they wanted. Inside two minutes, Willock broke forward and played a ball to the back post where Murphy took a touch before arrowing a low left-foot effort off the inside of Ramsdale’s post.

Arsenal’s response was to take an absolute age over a couple of goal kicks before hoofing them long. The terraces didn’t like the time-wasting tactics and booed incessantly. That further spurred the home players who snapped into challenges clearly keen not to allow us a foothold in the game.

The Gunners looked nervy and were already skating on thin ice when referee Chris Kavanagh awarded Newcastle a penalty. A short corner had been worked to Bruno Guimaraes whose first time shot clipped Jakub Kiwior’s hand. Thankfully, the VAR reviewed the incident and correctly recognised that the ball had first clipped the Pole’s leg. Kavanagh was told to take another look on the pitchside monitor and reversed his decision.

It was a sliding doors moment for the Gunners who spent the next five minutes settling into long spells of possession. Our control was soon rewarded. After a free-kick into the Newcastle box was cleared, we recycled possession through Saka and Jorginho before Odegaard tried his luck from 20 yards. His left foot effort fizzed low through Botman’s legs leaving Pope with no chance. It was an incredible finish by the Norwegian who took his goal tally for the season to 15. (GOAL 1-0)

After the celebrations, the Gunners huddled for an impromptu team talk. Whatever was said, it worked; we were seriously good afterwards. A series of counter-attacks should have resulted in a second goal. Pope denied both Martinelli and Odegaard on 21 minutes then made a stop from Saka who’d burst through the middle to collect a Xhaka pass.

At the other end, Wilson laid off for Willock who forced a decent save from Ramsdale. Our keeper also had to claw away a cross from Wilson’s feet after initially being in two minds about whether to go for it or not.

The game grew increasingly niggly as the break drew close. Jesus and Trippier mouthed off at each other, Wilson and Xhaka had a heated exchange and Gabriel Magalhaes had to calm down compatriot Joelinton. With so much on the line for both sides, it was hardly surprising emotions were running high.

Five minutes of stoppage time were managed well by the Gunners before we created an unbelievable opening with the final attack of the half. Odegaard left Burn on his arse with a brilliant feint inside the box but couldn’t beat Pope with only the keeper to beat.

Second Half

As they did in the first half, Newcastle came racing out of the traps. Murphy beat Zinchenko down the right, dinked a cross to Isak who headed against the post. It was a huge let-off. Inside a minute, the home side had another fine chance to equalise, this time Ramsdale producing an almost impossible save to deny Schar’s header. An even bigger let-off. 

Up the other end, Martinelli worked his way into the box, opened his body and curled a beautiful shot that clipped the bar. Jesus was the next to have a go but his effort was blocked for a corner. 

Back came Newcastle. Isak fed Willock who was winding up to shoot before Xhaka appeared out of nowhere to make a goal-saving challenge. Arteta reacted to a difficult 15 minutes for Zinchenko by taking the Ukrainian out of the firing line. Tierney came on to try and close off the Trippier-Murphy combination only for Murphy to be replaced by Almiron. 

Newcastle took their frustration out on us by becoming even more physical. Joelinton put an elbow into the back of Xhaka’s head, Schar did the same to Jesus. Things were also simmering on the touchline as Arteta and Howe barked instructions. 

For all the pressure we had to soak up, we still looked capable of scoring on the break. A ball won high up the pitch ended with Jesus testing Pope at his near post. Better was still toe come. With the next counter-attack we got the goal that gave us the breathing room we were desperate for. 

Jesus set Martinelli free down the left, the winger ate up the ground, worked his way to the touchline and fired a low ball to the near post where Schar stuck out a foot to accidentally divert the ball past Pope. It was a moment of good fortune to end a move that was brilliant in its endeavour. Up in the gods of St James’ Park, the away went mental. (GOAL 2-0)

A raft of changes greeted the final 10 minutes as Newcastle threw on more firepower and Arsenal looked to tighten up. Martinelli and Odegaard were the men in red to make way with Trossard and Partey sent on. 

The home support were baying for a penalty when substitute Anderson took a loose ball down and turned inside Xhaka before hitting the turf. The Swiss was incensed at what was a definite dive and the referee rightly waved away the claims. Ramsdale sucked up more time calling for treatment after a minor collision with Almiron before Nelson and Nketiah were sent on for Jesus and Saka. 

In the closing stages, Schar fired over the bar from range before the fourth official signalled six minutes of added time. Newcastle had all of the ball as we sat deep in the box but they couldn’t beat Ramsdale who denied Saint-Maximan and Gordon. 

And that was pretty much that. A brilliant win by Arteta’s team who, to a man, were excellent. We go again next weekend against Brighton. It’s not over just yet.

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Bruce

Professional

Funsho Patrick

Best win of the season! Congratulations…. we’re playing without pressure….won the harder matches and threw the easier points away under pressure….. first time we’re crossing 80points in 2decades….in this particular stadium after last season’s loss… character! Also Jakob Kiwior is here to stay! I didn’t remember Saliba was injured for the first time in a month!!

Walleye

I think you’re right about Kiwior. I add Tierney was substituted at the appropriate time and cleaned stuff up. All praise to MA for learning.

Daveo

Well managed. Really great win in a hostile. Just gotta hope for a miracle…

Maniac

Hoping that fixture congestion starts to wear on City. Two mid-week fixtures against Real Madrid for that missing piece of silverware that they’ve long been desperate for may well be causing a certain level of distraction. Let’s hope it offers us the chance to get back in.

PeteyB

Yup. I thought KT was pretty great. Solid.

Fabulous

Not really a “no match” pressure. This match is as intense as Anfield. Look at the fouls and fights in the game. Just unfortunate Arteta only figured out Kiwior and Jorginho would’ve performed better than both Holding and Partey. Those two may have gotten us the 3 points against West Ham and Soton.

Regardless, we can only win the remaining points. It’s not over until it’s over.

GoonerJust

What a breathtaking game! Phewww
Kiwior is awesome! I wish he started those games right after Willy injured.

Daveo

Alright, but don’t forget partey has also basically been the best midfielder in the EPL until half time in that Liverpool game. He stumbled for sure, but he’s also one of the best #6s in world footy.

Heavenly Chapecoense

Agree, just that the harder matches are those where you are under pressure not when the pressure is gone.

Maniac

Fantastic result! Only the second time that Newcastle have lost at St James’ Park all season, and we managed to do it with a well-deserved clean sheet for Ramsdale as well. Well done lads!

Anon

Top performance

gooner

We are winning this league. 90 points

Qwaliteee

That’s the spirit!

🍺 🍺 👍 😊

Fabulous

That was gutsy more than professional I feel. Anybody else as glad as I am our team finally have some steel?

Let’s get Rice and Sutalo in the summer and those days we get physically played off the park will be long over.

Hopeful Gooner

The dreams lives on!

PGunner

Your name 👌🏼

myrtle

We could have lost it 5-2 won it 2-5 and drawn it 3-3, but we won it 0-2.. ahh the fine margins of sport

C.B.

Guaranteed 2nd place!

Nainsley Aitland Miles

We can still finish 1st.

PeteyB

*Guaranteed at least 2nd place, I’m still dreaming of more.

What a fool I am! 😅

Qwaliteee

Yep.

One in the eye for all those cunts who didn’t even have us finishing in the top four.

And the tears of Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane are particularly hilarious.

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

Does that mean Neville was wrong about Utd catching us?

Mayor McCheese

Lovely tap-in by that piece of shit Schar. Ta!

Dada

Newcastle are a bunch of wankers.

Mayor McCheese

They are and they all deserve a nice punch in the face, starting with the most punchable of the lot: Trippier, Burn, Almiron, and Schar.

The Bob

Mustnt forget joelinton!

Maniac

Joelinton surely tops the list, or at least second.

It Is What It Is

And Wilson….sly contender. Wasn’t sure until today. Ramsdale had to protectively circle Xhaka, while on the floor, like a boxer controlling the center of the ring. After doing 400 degrees, he realised his wind up game was well highlighted. Joelinton is a thundercunt. Almiron running around without his ventriloquist. Trippier almost got instant karma before halftime. Absolutely had me going mental. If I was Jesus, I’d be ordering Martinelli to CF, so I could deal with him with the ball. They had balls, and they are third, but there are 15 points plus between us, and the range is tighter… Read more »

Arun

Yeah. They are such an easy team to hate. But Eddie Howe has definitely got something going there. They have a good mix of physicality and talent and will be force in coming seasons. But F them. We went to their home and took all the points. So proud of our boys.

The Arsenal

They showed some of their colors at the emirates. Willock made them a bit more likeable but today they were some dirty bellends. Actually made me call them orcs today which i usually reserved for Pulis’s Stoke.

Gooner7190

Said to my dad during the first half that they’re just a rich Stoke City. Dirty, dirty bastards. The fact that Kavanagh only saw 1 bookable offence just shows his the worst ref in the league

A Different George

He is not a good referee, but that title has so many solid contenders.

Arsepedant

Yes, Coote is much worse than Kavanagh and don’t get me started on that utter shower of shit Attwell.

Emi Rates

Fair play to the guy, he came through for us when we needed it.

Frosty

The definition of Schart.

capetowngooner

One of our best hard-fought games this season. Such resilience. If we can strengthen the squad this summer we can really kick on next season.Really hope we don’t sell Tierney

Walleye

I like Newcastle. And some of their players are interesting.
BUT I LOVE ARSENAL AND ESPECIALLY THIS TEAM. GOSH THAT WAS PLEASING.

No foot Norbert

You won’t be saying that when they’re eating the food off our table. Hope liverpool get top 4 ahead of them.

Liverpool (like sp*rs too I guess) are self sustainable and need Champions League cash, so they’re eating at the same table as Arsenal.

Whereas Newcastle, Man City, Man United don’t really need CL income.

Maniac

If by like you mean hate, and by interesting you mean irritating, then yes, I agree.

Walleye

Sorry I was too subtle. Newcastle is interesting to watch because they would fit right with teams from 30 years ago on muddy fields. They are also interesting because they are owned by a country and this how they play. Are you kidding me?
finally they are example 1a of how the center’s dependence on VAR has inhibited the center from making the calls and meting punishment.
the league has gotten dirtier the last three years or so. So it was interesting to watch Arsenal out play them and be every bit as dirty.

shokim

Brilliant result. Wankers the lot of Newcastle players!

Grumbleduke

Brilliant Arsenal. Newcastle are the new Stoke, team of thugs and rats. Trippier is such a prick.

The Far Post

What’s worse, the ref allowed them to continue their thuggery. He pissed me off so much, with how much he let them get away with. Just awful.

Tomaury Bischfeld

Great gritty win, lots of character.
Odegaard is a wizard.
Kiwior looks calm, assured.
Newcastle are a bunch of cunts. How Schar didn’t get at least a yellow for full on elbowing Jesus in the face, I don’t know.

BillyKrystal

There should’ve been about 8 yellows for Newcastle in this game. Guimares and schar in particular. I’m glad the refs got booed off at full time. Might’ve been the worst managed game I’ve ever seen

Crash Fistfight

Yeah but ironically the refs got booed because the fans thought they were terrible in Arsenal’s favour, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

BillyKrystal

I know which is hilarious as I can’t remember nearly as many missed for them: I’m just pleased the refs got an earful. They need to know just how bad they were. Still can’t quite believe the refereeing today

PGunner

BIG

Truther

Surely the most satisfying win of the season in the circumstances.

It’s a mystery to me, though, how Newcastle occupy their current position. Joelinton, Wilson and Burn are not really footballers at all.

Momozemio

They benefit from too much lattitude from the FA and refs, plain and simple. Their level of agressivity which is praised should rather be punished. They should have had at least 7 yellows and a red today. Kudos to Xhaka who (probably not by accident) was on the receiving end at lrasyv3 times and prevented himself not to react. That blond hair cunt who did the last one on Xhaka was jumping of joy after is rough two footed “intervention”. He was on his feet when he did this, would have he made the same slidding it should have been… Read more »

Funsho Patrick

Best comment of them all!! Let’s see them do it in Europe!!

Stonks

All I think about is those 4 points we lost against West ham and Southampton… But then man city has a huge goal advantage

HotAir

It’s true, we needed to win those games AND get a win at Liverpool or a draw at City. Not easy.

Fabulous

I also go back to Brentford offside goal, denied penalty against Southampton at St Mary’s and Newcastle at Emirates. Would still be ahead of City if those were correctly called even if we drew Soton and West Ham. Disappointing that we don’t only compete against financial doping, we also have PGMOL screwing us time and again.

BillyKrystal

Was just thinking of the clear as day penalty Fulham didn’t get against City. That game should’ve been a draw which obviously drastically changes things. Plus the moments you mentioned I think we’re right to feel hard done by.

The Arsenal

Im still in disbelief that Walcott returned to put a dent in our season.

evaristus

COYG!

Wengerball

KT needs more game time! Abaolutely brilliant when he came on and killed alot of potential Newcastle plays. 2nd goal started from his interception and Martinelli plays better with him on the pitch and is almost non-existent when Zinny is in….Great win from Arsenal, extremely proud of them!

A Different George

Don’t think you’re correct about the left side of our attack. A lot of Tierney’s attacking play is actually in the same space as Martinelli and limits his effectiveness. I think Martinelli is at his best when Zinchenko (and Gabriel Jesus) is playing and Xhaka plays further forward, as a “left 8” who mirrors Odegaard’s position and regularly runs into the penalty area. Xhaka played much further back today.

Cliff Bastin

Wow Newcastle are annoying. I hope they foul the hell out of City next week but then after that I hope Pool knock them out of 4th those bastards.

Crash Fistfight

City?

Maniac

They aren’t playing City though?

They’re not playing City unless there’s an Oil Cup mid-season friendly that I’m unaware of.

Qwaliteee

City have Everton away next.

Vieiraera

Fuck yeaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Original Big Dave

Great win against Wimbledon.

AusGunner

Tremendous result and performance! We’re still actually really quite good! Well done everyone!

Did a great job of putting the shits right up Newcastle and killing the home atmosphere, unless they wanted to moan. Great stuff.

It’s a hindsight is 20-20 thing (and fans were hardly clamouring for it vs Liverpool or West Ham) but perhaps Arteta could’ve put his trust in Kiwior to start a game or two earlier.

It Is What It Is

As much as it pained me, he had to give Holding a chance. Kiwior would have been targeted against Poo and in the derby against a bullish Antonio. Confidence shattering for a young CB. Witnessed Holding get targeted too, but it was well known what to expect. I think we conceded a goal in each of three games solely due to Holding backing off. I’m glad we don’t fuck up transfers any more, Kiwior gives me absolutely no cause for concern. Looks comfortable and confident.

AusGunner

I get your point, and I’m not anti-Holding at all and don’t begrudge him his starts, but why wouldn’t Kiwior have been “targeted” by Newcastle yesterday, given that they’re better than West Ham and have a similarly boisterous stadium to Liverpool? And aren’t centre-backs always targeted insofar as forwards generally have to go through them to score goals, which is the aim of the game? idk. plus he was playing regular first team football when we signed him from a league with plenty of non-demure stadiums. Anyway, doesn’t matter, he looks like a good signing and that’s what matters.

ClockEndRider

Fuck Stokecastle, the rugby league wankers

Arun

Shout out to Kiwior! Another brilliant signing from Edu and team. He was completely at home and even rest of the team looked confident and natural around him. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but would have been great if he got a chance a bit earlier. But Arteta should have learnt from this.

Bill Hall

Fucking professional performance at a very hard ground to visit!

If the referee had not been so fucking shite or in the toons pocket (both possibly) Newcastle could easily have finished the game with 9 players!

Oh and I am having a celebratory cigar! The lads just sealed second place and CL football with no fucking qualifiers!

Get in there!

Crash Fistfight

No qualifiers for English teams any more (since the first time we didn’t get 4th, to be precise).

Fatgooner

A ridiculously open game that could have gone either way.

We were surprisingly good today: I was expecting another pathetic collapse. Instead we stood firm and battled all the way. We could have finished off the game in the first half had we taken our chances, but were wasteful. Then we rode our luck, with the woodwork helping out. Then we got the lucky OG.

Excellent game management by Arteta: taking off Zinchenko was his smartest move.

Frustrating that we couldn’t play this well at City: we would still be in the title race.

Now let’s beat Brighton.

Qwaliteee

We still are in the title race. A lot of football to be played yet and shit can happen.

No one ever said Anfield’89 would happen – apart from George Graham in the team’s hotel – and it did.

Nothing in football is over until it’s mathematically impossible. And at the moment, that ain’t the case.

Scott P

This is the difference between a very good team like Newcastle that will give us a hard time and demand a great performance from us, and a world class team like City that will completely punish you in any of the shaky defensive moments we had early on and kill the game before you even have time to adapt.

Cyprus The Immortal Gooner

How on earth did Newcastle end up with only 2 bookings (the 2nd on the 90th min) fcol??? Useless ref…

Fatgooner

He was a joke. I couldn’t believe the number of fouls he let go unpunished.

Anon

Guimares just seemed to run around the pitch kicking people

COYG1001

I have a new favorite team to hate!

BillyKrystal

Ooh boy they are an easy bunch to hate. Doesn’t help when you remember the giddy excitement over there is all thanks to cash from a repressive regime. At least no Saudi flags were visible today

Gooner Z

Tierney had a massive performance, can we please play him always after taking a two nil lead.

Fatgooner

No: Tierney should start. Zinchenko proved again today that he can’t defend. HE IS A MIDFIELDER, NOT A FULL-BACK!

UpNorth

Saudi FC and ref vs Arsenal 0-2. That’s all

Mikolaj

What a beautiful team we have. Proud of the guys. What a performance, working their socks of against a 12 men opposition who were allowed every dirty tricks for 90+ minutes.
The boys are giving us so much joy and pride. Love this team!

HotAir

Newcastle fans were booing the referees at the end. Not enough to get at least 5 yellows against ignored apparently. Such a scumbag team.

Crash Fistfight

To be fair to him, he tried his best, with that ridiculous penalty decision (somehow Alan Shearer on the stream I was watching thought it was a scandalous decision to overturn a penalty for a ball not hitting a player’s hand/arm).

Qwaliteee

It was ball to hand, not hand to ball, there was no intent whatsoever to stop the ball on its trajectory.

As for Shearer, normally quite a fair pundit; obviously letting the brown ale affect his ability to see common sense.

A Different George

On the NBC stream, they all first thought it was penalty, then all (Peter Drury, Graeme LeSaux, Lee Dixon) agreed after watching replays it should be overturned. In fairness, so did the referee–if awarding the penalty had been his worst mistake, that would have been a much better game than he had. He was awful.

Alex

Epic

Alex

Tierney was good when he came on. Covered everything and released the game to get Martinelli up for the second.

100mph….I’m exhausted and happy

Ved

This may be the adrenaline & few dollops of rum, but that sliding tackle from Xhaka made me well up, esp recalling all the shit we (I) spewed about him the past 5 years

The Arsenal

Pound for pound best win of the season. Thought Jorginho and Kiwior came in and were very important, Jorginho in particular allowed us to dominate and withstand Newcastle’s bullying tactics in the middle. Just watched him hilariously pip Odegaard for Motm on sky. Real character shown by the lads after the last few weeks and the last time we were here.

English teacher

Just LOVED that win.
No joy, Newcastle. No joy. None.
Payback for last season. So proud of the lads. Standing up to a violent, sneaky group of thugs who played 90 minutes with NO JOY.

NONE.

Get in!

PiersMorganIsATwat

One thing I really like about this team is the willingness to stand up for each other when push comes to shove. I remember when Fabregas was surrounded by opponents after a harsh free kick. Not a single arsenal player backed him up as the opponent ganged up on him. Not this team. When some cunt tries to pick a fight with Xhaka as he is sitting on the field 3,4,5 arsenal players are there in an instant. The narrative about “soft arsenal” has always been overblown, but there have been sides without the necessary edge. Not this one. White,… Read more »

Neil Patrick

The referee was clearly benefitting from some Saudi dollar today.

Qwaliteee

They all have. All season. For the past decade.

Qwaliteee

Superb performance from everyone. No one outside the Emirates expected us to win, the build up about Newcastle and the wankers with the flags was utterly pathetic from a tv channel purported to be impartial – but this, of course, is Sky we’re talking about here. Next Sunday is going to be interesting to say the least. City away to Everton before we take on Brighton at home. Please God, Sean Dyche can bore his way to three points, because if that happens and we beat Brighton, it really is game on again boys and girls. All winners today, but… Read more »

Ret

Referee knows. He didnt give red card to Schar with the purpose. 😁😁

Merlin’s Panini

Well that keeps things interesting? This is exactly the sort of performance we needed. Assured, a clean sheet and a 2-0 lead we didn’t really look like losing. Looking at our fixtures now vs City’s we may have a little glimmer of hope. They play Chelsea (who have suddenly remembered how to win a football match and may be in better spirits after their game with Forest), Everton (who will look to replicate Fat Sam’s attempts the other day but more successfully), Brighton (who are so tough) and Brentford (who like ruining other people’s fun). We have Brighton, Forest and… Read more »

Gordy

I thought that the thugs got what they deserved.

Der Kaiser

Reality check of Arsenal’s 81 points from 35 games with 3 games and 9 points still to play for (possible 90 points). The average number of points earned by the Premier League winners is 87 The Arsenal “invincible team” finished with 90 points. Whatever happens this is an awesome team that in many seasons would be title winners. The fact is that the money Man City have has meant that they have two internationals for each position. For any team to compete with that be it Arsenal this season or Liverpool in three of the last four seasons (only winning… Read more »

Chris

The sh*thousery was real. And I love to see it!

portugunner

Y E S ! TODAY WE WERE SUPERIOR! great game!

PTAFC

Didn’t see that coming at all, a very professional performance and we created great chances too. Well done Jorghino and Trossard should start too. 2 great January buys them. Keep on winning and you never know

Larry mccarthy

So the people who said Jorginho was a waste of money look pretty silly now, he ran the game you don’t need pace if you can read a game like that.

AusGunner

We should sign that Lacazette lad from the french championship to bolster our attack

Qwaliteee

No we shouldn’t.

That Lacazette lad was one of the reasons we missed top four last season.

John

First time in many years that I’ve seen us play with defiance, refusal to be intimidated… for so long we’ve had “pretend” hard men – Xhaka getting mouthy and pushing people for instance, but nothing to back it up. Today, there was no machismo, but there was real confidence and strength. For the first time in a long time, we have a team that lies down for nobody. Great performance today…. this team has come so far this year. Still praying for a miracle…

Only one Dennis Bergkamp

What a monumental performance!! Professional and mature while still playing the beautiful game. This title race isn’t over yet! Come on ya Gunners!!

Chris

One of the best games of the season. Imagine newcastle with decent players though…

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