Key events
37 min Martinelli runs at Murphy to win another corner, although it looked like it should have been a goalkick. Either way, this is probably Arsenal’s best spell of sustained pressure.
35 min A big round of applause from the home fans as Kai Havertz starts to warm up.
33 min Four and out. Arsenal take a short corner and Lewis-Skelly overhits his cross towards Partey beyond the far post.
33 min Make that four.
32 min Three corners in quick succession for Arsenal, all down the right.
30 min Pope charges miles out of his area to beat Martinelli to the ball and boot it out of play. Good goalkeeping.
28 min Rice, hitherto fairly quiet, shoots over from distance.
27 min Gordon runs onto a long pass down the left, beats Saliba and sidefoots a dangerous cutback that beats Wilson at the near post and is palmed away by Raya. Barnes, Newcastle’s other wide forward, wasn’t around to take advantage.
26 min “Arsenal are wearing their new strip I think, and there must be something in the red dye in this one which is interfering with the players’ radar,” says Charles Antaki. “Maybe it gives off fumes or gets into their bloodstream. What they need is a slap of Patrick Vieira– era Vicks on the shirt front.”
Say it again everyone. Vieira-era. Vieira-era. Vieira-era.
25 min White charges purposefully between Tonali and Burn into the area. He then veers to his left and falls over, but the referee isn’t interested. There was a slight touch from the sliding Burn on White, though you could argue that a) White initiated it and b) he’d lost the ball anyway. The first part of the run was excellent though.
24 min Excellent defensive work from Trossard, who stays with Murphy for about 50 yards and then relieves him of possession. Newcastle were breaking dangerously again so that was an important tackle.
21 min “Your Sparklemotion reference has given this game a completely different flavour for me,” says Joel Dunmore. “Where would you put each of these two teams’ performances on the Lifeline between Fear and Love (only if forced to, to prevent you getting a zero)?”
Are you suggesting a whole new way of measuring performance and momentum in football matches? xG is dead, long live the patented Guardian Lifeline Exercisometer™? Because if you are, right now Arsenal = Fear, Newcastle = Love.
An even better save from Raya!
17 min Tonali’s near-post corner is headed powerfully across goal by Burn and saved brilliantly to his left by Raya. The loose ball is pushed towards goal by Botman, and Raya – still on the ground – adjusts his body to kick it ball away.
Excellent save from Raya!
16 min This is great fun. Barnes surges from halfway to the edge of the D before driving a low left-foot shot towards goal. It takes a biggish deflection off Partey and veers towards the bottom corner, only for Raya to scramble across his line and fingertip it round at full stretch. The shot wasn’t going particularly quickly but it was still a cracking save.
Fine save from Pope!
14 min A wicked inswinging corner from Saka is met by the head of Partey, barely four yards out, and Pope throws his arms wide to make a terrific, eye-catching save. It was a star jump from Pope, essentially, and the ball hit his right arm before ricocheting over the bar.
13 min Trossard pulls out to the left and runs Murphy to the byline. He sits Murphy down, then walks past Barnes and hits a shot across goal that deflects behind for a corner. Lovely play from Trossard.
12 min Arsenal have dominated possession early on, with Odegaard livelier than in recent weeks, but Newcastle look equally dangerous in transition. The first goal feels really important today.
10 min: Chance for Livramento Livramento breaks down the left wing and pushes the ball into the area towards Gordon. He flicks a neat return pass behind his standing leg, but Livramento’s shot from the edge of the area is too close to Raya. Decent chance, that.
9 min Chris Paraskevas, our Newcastle fan Down Under, has provided details of the game that turned his heart black and white. The 4-3 v Leicester in 1997? Either of the 3-4s v Liverpool? 5-0 v Manchester United. Try again.
“Midweek (Tuesday morning game) against West Brom,” he says. “Dour scoreless draw. Charles N’Somnia / N’Zogbia’s full debut. Absolutely not worth waking up for but it confirmed what I had known deep down for years: Newcastle was always the club for me. (Alan Shearer was my football hero as a kid. He still is/I still am!.)”
Fine save by Raya!
6 min The first big chance goes to Newcastle. Raya’s dodgy straight pass is read by Tonali, who finds Wilson in the penalty area. He flicks the ball neatly to the onrushing Guimaraes, whose shot is pushed up in the air by Raya and then flapped away desperately while he is still on the floor. The second was vital with Barnes sniffing around for a tap-in. It was Raya’s mistake that led to the chance but he made up for it with a really good save.
4 min Burn makes a fine sliding tackle on White near the right edge of the penalty area, though it looked like White was offside.
2 min Newcastle have already beaten Arsenal three times this season: 1-0 in the league at St James’, 2-0 in both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
1 min Newcastle kick off from right to left as we watch. This could be lots of fun.
A reminder of today’s teams
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Tierney, Zinchenko, Calafiori, Jorginho, Henry-Francis, Nwaneri, Havertz, Sterling.
Newcastle (3-4-2-1) Pope; Schar, Botman, Burn; Murphy, Guimaraes, Tonali, Livramento; Gordon, Barnes; Wilson.
Substitutes: Dubravka, Ruddy, Lascelles, Krafth, Willock, Longstaff, Miley, Osula, Neave.
Referee Simon Hooper.
Nottingham Forest survived 17 minutes of added time to win 2-1 at the London Stadium. As a result the Champions League race is tighter an old rocker’s trousers. And not just any old rocker: we’re talking Nigel Tufnel in his seventies, still living the dream.
“Be interesting to see if/how Eddie Howe tweaks the system with the less mobile Wilson up top,” writes Chris Paraskevas. “I know Isak missing through injury is probably overdue and it might even speak to our last game being a priority in the manager’s eyes?
“I’m taking Isak’s absence as a bad omen to go with my body shutting down from my caffeine withdrawals this weekend (it’s a thing) – and just having walked out to one of those very dangerous-looking Aussie backyard spiders spinning a web in the doorway at 1am…”
1am on a Monday morning. Let nobody doubt your commitment to Sparklemotion Newcastle United. How did you become a fan originally?
Newcastle could go above Arsenal today, and Eddie Howe isn’t happy that many people still perceive them a deluxe feeder club.
It’s a source of frustration because I don’t see why our players are getting linked, here, there and everywhere with other clubs. I’d like to think the players are happy here. I’d like to think again that they’re seeing us grow and develop into a team that hopefully can compete at the top end of the division.
Jonathan Wilson takes Arsenal’s temperature
Mikel Arteta also spoke of “having to play for the sixth time this season with 10 men”. Written down, that could be seen as further criticism of his squad, but the tone suggested this was a bizarre misfortune that had befallen Arsenal when in truth the wild lunge that brought Mikel Merino a second yellow card at Anfield was as clear a booking as there could ever be. Arsenal have lacked discipline, their record of six red cards not only the worst in the league, but at least twice as bad as all but two other sides.
He’s back!
Team news: Havertz on the bench, Isak out
Mikel Arteta makes a single change from the honourable draw at Anfield a week ago. Declan Rice returns in place of the suspended Mikel Merino. Kai Havertz is on the bench after a rapid recovery from injury.
Newcastle are without Alexander Isak, who has a minor groin injury, so Callum Wilson starts up front. Eddie Howe sticks with the back three that worked so well against Chelsea in the first half last weekend – and, more importantly, against Arsenal in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. Wilson’s inclusion is the only change.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Tierney, Zinchenko, Calafiori, Jorginho, Henry-Francis, Nwaneri, Havertz, Sterling.
Newcastle (3-4-2-1) Pope; Schar, Botman, Burn; Murphy, Guimaraes, Tonali, Livramento; Gordon, Barnes; Wilson.
Substitutes: Dubravka, Ruddy, Lascelles, Krafth, Willock, Longstaff, Miley, Osula, Neave.
Referee Simon Hooper.
Preamble
Arsenal came into the 2024-25 season desperate to avoid finishing second again for the third year in a row. But this scenario probably wasn’t what they had in mind. In mid-February, with 13 games remaining, they were still on Liverpool’s coat-tails in the title race and 12 points ahead of seventh-placed Newcastle. Only two points separate them now, so Newcastle will leapfrog Arsenal if they win at the Emirates today.
It’s all a bit 1997, when Robbie Elliott’s goal at Highbury on the penultimate weekend ultimately clinched second place for Newcastle ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool. That achievement, the last time Newcastle finished in the top two, and it was significant because it was the first season in which the runners-up qualified for the Champions League. Without Elliott’s goal, Tino Asprilla and Keith Gillespie’s glory night against Barcelona would not have happened. These days you only need to finish in the top five – or 17th, but that’s another story – to qualify.
Arsenal aren’t quite there yet. They need a point either today or away to Southampton next weekend to avoid landing on a snake and sliding down to sixth.
Newcastle need one more win, either today or at home to Everton next Sunday. But they, probably more than Arsenal given the trajectories of both sides, would love to finish second.
Kick off 4.30pm.
