Ed Aarons was at the Emirates for us this afternoon. I’d leave you with his report – goodnight.
Mikel Arteta’s verdict
We’re very disappointed because we wanted to be here with the Premier League or the Champions League and it’s not the case. Chasing a dream has its ups and downs, but we need to recognise what we’ve done – I’ve seen other teams with one or two injuries finish fifth, eighth, sixteenth, seventeenth.
What this team has done, in my own opinion, to sustain the level throughout the season with everything that has happened, is incredible.
[Has this season tested you more than any other at Arsenal as player or manager?] Yeah. And brought out more pride. Because of the culture that we’ve set, because of the standards we have set – that regardless of what happens you have to seek for the best and do your best, and that’s what we’ve done.
We are there [challenging for major honours]. Nobody wants us to be there. We have been there now for three or four seasons and I want to take us from there [to the next level], and that is going to be difficult.
[How big a summer is it for Arsenal?] Finish the season, go to the beach for a few days – and make sure the people upstairs do what they have to do!
Declan Rice’s reaction
Look, in the last few weeks we’ve been poor by our standards in the Premier League. We weren’t so hard in the Champions League that our form dropped; that happens sometimes.
Newcastle are such a good side and we’ve lost three games to them this season. The manager’s message before the game was clear: take it personally. I think we did today. We had a bit of a slow start but we grew into the game and three points is a nice way to top off the season at home.
It’s about time I started scoring frequently. I like that finish a lot, when I can whip it on top of the ball across the keeper. It was a special moment and I’m really, really happy.
[How do you reflect on this season?] Difficult. Really difficult. After coming so close last year in the Prem, this year we were poor by our standards – let’s be real. And to go out of every cup competition… with the team we’ve got, with the manager we’ve got, we need to be competing for titles.
Next year we’ll be back for more. Hopefully we’ll strengthen in the summer because we’re probably gonna lose a few players as well. We’ll come back even hungrier to win something for this club because that’s what we all want.
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Arsenal are the Premier League runners-up once again – not mathematically, but you have my word. The last time they finished second three years in a row was between 1998 and 2001, and we all know what happened next.
A booming drive from Declan Rice was enough to see off Newcastle in an intriguing game between two excellent teams who both respect and dislike each other. After a nervous first half in which David Raya made three excellent saves, Arsenal went up a gear and dominated most of the second half. It got a bit tense towards the end but they held on to the three points, and to second place.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 36 | 46 | 83 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 37 | 34 | 71 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 37 | 22 | 66 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 37 | 20 | 66 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 37 | 9 | 66 |
| 6 | Man City | 36 | 24 | 65 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 37 | 13 | 65 |
| 8 | Brentford | 37 | 9 | 55 |
| 9 | Brighton | 36 | 3 | 55 |
| 10 | Fulham | 37 | 2 | 54 |
| 11 | AFC Bournemouth | 36 | 12 | 53 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 36 | -2 | 49 |
| 13 | Everton | 37 | -3 | 45 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton | 36 | -13 | 41 |
| 15 | West Ham | 37 | -18 | 40 |
| 16 | Man Utd | 37 | -12 | 39 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 37 | 2 | 38 |
| 18 | Leicester | 37 | -45 | 25 |
| 19 | Ipswich | 37 | -44 | 22 |
| 20 | Southampton | 37 | -59 | 12 |
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Full time: Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle
No red card, and the referee Simon Hooper blows the final whistle to ensure there isn’t any more nonsense.
90+8 min Kiwior and Burn are booked for their part in that scrum. There’s also a VAR check for a potential red card against somebody.
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90+8 min Raya claims the corner and then players on both sides get involved in a rolling scrum in the six-yard box.. Dan Burn was involved, Raya and Osula as well. Given the recent history of these teams, I’m surprised it took so long.
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90+7 min One last corner for Newcastle. Nick Pope is forward. Pope springs eternal and all that.
90+5 min: Chance for Newcastle! Gordon stands up a dangerous cross that Raya fails to hold as he comes through the crowd. The loose ball is helped in the general direction of goal and pushed away by Raya. That was the closest Newcastle have come in the second half.
90+5 min Now Havertz is booked for an arm to the face of Schar. He’s back!
90+4 min Willock is booked for dissent, as is Raya for delaying the restart.
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90+3 min: Arsenal substitution Jorginho, who may also be off this summer, comes on for Martin Odegaard.
90+1 min Okay, there will be five minutes of added time.
90 min Martinelli gives Arsenal’s defence a breather by running at Livramento to win a corner. I can’t imagine there will be much added time.
88 min: Arsenal substitution Leandro Trossard is replaced by Kieran Tierney, who gets the chance to say farewell to the Emirates before his return to Celtic in the summer. He gets a lovely hand from the home fans.
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85 min Another sustained spell of Newcastle pressure comes to nothing. They haven’t threatened enough in the second half, at least not yet.
83 min Willock moves purposefully into the area from the left, twists Ben White inside out but then blasts high and wide of the near post from a tight angle. Should’ve gone across goal.
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82 min Arsenal are ceding territory for the first time in the second half. David Raya still hasn’t had a save to make, but the mood has changed.
81 min Mikel Arteta gets a yellow card for kicking the ball back onto the field of play while Newcastle were collecting a replacement ball to take a quick throw-in. He’ll be suspended at Southampton next week.
79 min Schar whacks the free-kick into the wall. It was in a very similar position to Declan Rice’s first goal against Real Madrid; this time Schar couldn’t get it round the outside.
78 min Tonali is fouled 25 yards from goal by Havertz. Newcastle are having a good spell, certainly when compared to the rest of the half. Schar and Tonali are over the free-kick…
76 min: Newcastle substitution Arsenal alumnus Joe Willock comes on for Harvey Barnes, who never looks as dangerous when he plays on the right.
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76 min: Arsenal substitution Bukayo Saka is replaced by Kai Havertz, whose last game was the Carabao Cup semi-final at Newcastle on 5 February.
75 min: Chance for Barnes That was much better from Newcastle. Guimaraes plays a slick one-two with Osula on the edge of the area and squares to Barnes, who is slightly off balance and whips over the bar. Osula’s flicked return pass was lovely.
74 min Livramento’s cross is turned behind by Kiwior, who has had an excellent game. Guimaraes’s delivery is poor and Trossard uses his noggin to clear.
72 min Newcastle, so menacing before the break, have barely laid a glove on Arsenal in the second half.
69 min White, who has reminded everyone of his attacking threat today, rampages forward and pings a drive from 20 yards that flashes just wide of the far post. Fine effort.
69 min Arsenal will clinch second place if it stays like this. Newcastle would need to win at home to Everton to be sure of a Champions League place, though they could qualify even if they lose.
67 min Some second half statistics, and they all speak the truth.
Possession Arsenal 73-27 Newcastle
Shots Arsenal 5-0 Newcastle
Goals Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle
66 min Newcastle’s best break of the half. A terrific reverse pass from Gordon releases Guimaraes on the left wing. He tries to find Osula with an early ball and Kiwior lunges in to make an important interception just outside the penalty area.
64 min Krafth immediately bundles Martinelli over and is booked. Arsenal questioned whether it was our friend Mr Dogso; it wasn’t.
64 min: Triple substitution for Newcastle Lewis Miley, Emil Krafth and William Osula come on for Jacob Murphy, Callum Wilson and Sven Botman. That suggests a switch to 4-3-3.
61 min Odegaard releases Saka in the inside-right channel. He moves into the area, then comes back on his left foot and scrapes a low shot across goal that is comfortably saved by the falling Pope.
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58 min Arsenal have been well on top in the second half. As Gary Neville notes on Sky, for the second Sunday in a row they have been a different team after a half-time audience with Mikel Arteta.
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Declan Rice had been unusually quiet – and you’ll notice the past tense because he has just put Arsenal idea with a storming goal. Gordon lost the ball in the final third to Saka, who found Odegaard on the right. He played a careful pass infield towards the onrushing, who smacked a curling first-time shot into the far corner from 25 yards. He hit it like a free-kick, except the ball was moving which made the shot harder to control. It’s a brilliant goal, one Rice wouldn’t have scored two or three months ago.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle (Rice 55)
Pick it out.
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51 min “Thanks for an MBM that can have me believe that perhaps today doesn’t have to end with Havertz coming on in the 60th minute and scoring an audacious own goal as his hamstring simultaneously explodes...” says Chris Finnegan. “Charles Antaki might be on to something with the Vicks on the shirt... Charles - I hear ya, fewer errors with Vieira-era aloe-vera guayaberas for peers to appear clearer. Ask Shearer.”
Those shirts would surely be de- more expensive to buy.
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50 min Now Schar blocks Lewis-Skelly’s shot from 15 yards, an opportunity that Lewis-Skelly created for himself with a gorgeous turn on the edge of the area. For an 18-year-old left-back, his ability in central areas – particularly in the final third - is outrageous.
50 min Good early pressure from Arsenal, that corner notwithstanding. Martinelli’s volleyed cross from near the byline is cleared importantly by Schar in the six-yard box.
48 min Arsenal take a short corner and go all the way back to the goalkeeper. The home fans grumble accordingly.
47 min “Is Nick Pope on his way out of Newcastle?” asks Rú Hickson. “I generally don’t rely on LinkedIn for my football gossip, but Newcastle posted this job the other day.
“On further investigation, this is a post for a goalkeeping coach for the women’s team. But it’s a rather funny way of advertising it. Plus, I couldn’t resist the subject. Arf!”
46 min They’re off again. Calafiori is playing as the left-sided centre-back with Kiwior moving across.
Arsenal substitution Riccardo Calafiori is replacing William Saliba at half-time. You’d imagine that’s due to injury.
Half-time reading
This is a lovely piece, and the picture is outstanding.
Half time: Arsenal 0-0 Newcastle
An intriguing first half ends goalless. The best chances came in the first 20 minutes, when David Raya made three excellent saves to Nick Pope’s one. Arsenal made most of the running but were always wary of Newcastle’s counter-attacking menace. These teams might not love each other, but the tactical battle in the first half betrayed oodles of mutual respect.
45 min Apparently there will be no added time. What is this, 1987?
42 min The possession split is roughly 60/40 in Arsenal’s favour. it has felt more pronounced than that. The stats do support the perception that Newcastle have been the more dangerous team despite having less of the ball. They’ve had five shots on target to Arsenal’s two, 10 overall.
38 min Livramento, put through on goal by Botman, dithers a man caught trespassing and is well tackled on the edge of the area by Partey. Barnes then has a shot from 20 yards blocked at sourcee.
37 min Rice’s corner is cleared, denying us all the CONTROVERSY we CRAVE in every FOOTBALL match these days.
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.
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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.
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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.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arsenal | 36 | 33 | 68 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 36 | 23 | 66 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 37 | 20 | 66 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 37 | 9 | 66 |
| 6 | Man City | 36 | 24 | 65 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 37 | 13 | 65 |
“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.
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