Arsenal secured a huge 2–1 victory away at Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon, with Gabriel heading home the winner in stoppage time.
It’s been a weekend of late drama in the Premier League, and the Gunners have certainly been major beneficiaries. They had a greater incentive to snatch all three points on Tyneside, having seen former striker Eddie Nketiah sink Liverpool to their first defeat of 2025–26 with a strike in stoppage time.
Mikel Arteta’s side trailed entering the closing stages, but overturned their 1–0 deficit with the help of two substitutes. After Mikel Merino glanced Declan Rice’s cross beyond Nick Pope, Martin Ødegaard swung in the corner from which the contest was won.
Here are three takeaways from a huge Arsenal win.
More Refereeing Controversy in This Fixture
This fixture has rarely passed by in recent years without controversy. Most notably, Newcastle’s 1–0 victory over the Gunners in November 2023 was laden with refereeing decisions that the Gunners felt went against them.
And they certainly felt aggrieved at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
In real time, Nick Pope’s challenge on Viktor Gyökeres looked a stonewall penalty. Even after a replay it looked good. It wasn’t until it became clear what the video assistant referee was looking at did Pope’s touch on the ball before bringing down the Swede look obvious.
Debate will rage as to whether Arsenal should’ve been awarded a spot kick anyway, with Gillett taking his sweet time to reach a decision after consulting the monitor. Despite his touch on the ball, Pope takes out Gyökeres right after.
Pope’s contact means many will suggest the right decision was eventually reached, but Arsenal supporters will doubtless remember the apparently irrelevant contact William Saliba made with the ball before he brought João Pedro down in last season’s 1–1 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion.
As for Nick Woltemade’s goal, Gabriel doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on. The Brazilian goes down far too easily. He was then perhaps fortunate to get away with a handball at 1–1 before scoring the winner. Swings and roundabouts, eh?
Gunners Banish St. James’ Demons
While Arsenal have won at Newcastle’s fortress as recently as 2023, they’d lost on their previous three visits without scoring a goal and were beaten by Eddie Howe’s side three times last season.
Howe’s rough and rugged outfit has seemed to have the Gunners’ number, with the Newcastle boss capable of producing individual game plans designed to tame Arteta’s men.
For a while, it looked like more of the same for Arsenal on Tyneside. They felt hard done by, succumbed to a sucker punch and looked set to bow out with a whimper having impressed for the most part. Arsenal were really good here, and deserving of all three points.
They performed with a fearless swagger and verve of which Eberechi Eze was at the heart of, with the Englishman able to ignite dangerous central combinations that Viktor Gyökeres will surely benefit from one day. There was no sense of Arteta inhibiting his side, and his substitutions were doubtless positive in a bid to claw the game back. Two new arrivals proved decisive, and this feels like a statement win, given so much has been made of their title credentials amid a daunting start to 2025–26.
They’re now just two points adrift of the champions.
Newcastle Heroes at Both Ends of the Pitch
Pope didn’t cover himself in glory during the match-winning sequence, but the Newcastle goalkeeper was instrumental in ensuring his side led for much of the contest.
The potential for a strong Pope performance was clear in the opening stages, as he tipped Eze’s left-footed effort around his post. After the penalty that eventually wasn’t sequence, he steadied himself to expertly deny Eze and Bukayo Saka in the first half, then Jurriën Timber after the restart.
He conceded twice but prevented 0.89 goals, according to FotMob. It was a performance worthy of praise despite the role he played in Gabriel’s winner.
At the other end of the pitch, Newcastle struggled to sustain any pressure against the Gunners, and there were bright moments on the counter-attack. However, the Toon Army has a new hero in Nick Woltemade, who has solely taken on the role of filling Alexander Isak’s boots with Yoane Wissa out injured.
The German certainly saunters, and has shown so far that he prefers to drift out to the left flank, much like Isak. His footwork is divine, and he’s excellent at retaining possession under pressure, While he’s not a great athlete, Woltemade’s brilliance as a combiner should suit this Newcastle team that’s full of runners down to the ground.
And while Newcastle didn’t sign him for his aerial threat, Woltemade has already doubled his headed goal tally from last season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Newcastle 1–2 Arsenal: Three Takeaways From Late Gunners Victory.
