6 talking points as Arsenal thump Newcastle in sixth straight Premier League win

24 February 2024 , 21:53

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Arsenal have 15 goals in their last three league games after the win over Newcastle

Arsenal made light work of Newcastle United to keep their title tilt alive with a 4-1 win at the Emirates on Saturday night.

Despite the amount of distance between them both geographically and the table, this fixture has become somewhat of a rivalry in recent times. January 2023 saw a touchline dispute between the respective coaching staff, while November’s meeting ended with Mikel Arteta the subject of an FA hearing after he labelled Anthony Gordon’s winner a "disgrace".

In turn, the Emirates faithful were in full voice ahead of kick-off and the Arsenal players matched the energy of their fans early on. The jeers for Newcastle's timewasting started early, with the Magpies taking plenty of time from each stoppage.

Those jeers soon turned to cheers however, when Sven Botman was unlucky enough to deflect the ball just over his own goal-line and had the hosts a deserved lead. Six minutes later and it was two, with Kai Havertz granted the freedom of the penalty area to double Arsenal's advantage.

The German ace really should have put his side three goals up immediately after the break when he went through one on one with Loris Karius only to slot his strike the wrong side of the upright. Arsenal lost a bit of their rhythm after that, with the visitors enjoying their best period of the game during the first 15 minutes of the second half.

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Arsenal soon put an end to that, with Bukayo Saka netting his 13th league goal of the campaign to quash the last of the Magpies hopes. The England ace dealt a hammer blow to the visitors when he rifled a low-driven left-footed strike that saw Karius stand and watch it hit the back of his net.

Four minutes separated Arsenal's third and fourth. Jakub Kiwior's header deflected off of Lewis Miley to seal all three points for the Gunners, though there was time for a familiar face to pull a goal back for Newcastle when Joe Willock headed home. The goal drew a few claps form the home fans as well as the travelling Toon Army as recognition for his efforts in an Arsenal shirt.

Newcastle's goal from the Arsenal academy graduate marked the first time the Geordies have scored at the Emirates in nearly 10 years, with it being the first strike from them on this ground since Ayoze Perez in November 2014.

Mirror Football has analysed six talking points from another free-flowing attacking performance from Arteta's Arsenal.

1. More set-piece heroics

Gabriel played a big part in Arsenal's first but it will go down as a Sven Botman own goal

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By now, teams must fear Arsenal corners like they do penalties. The Gunners are nothing short of sensational when it comes to dead-balls in general, but there is clearly something special about their corner routines.

This was by no means their prettiest, but as is often the case it was Gabriel Magalhaes who rose highest to meet Saka’s delivery but this time, it wasn’t actually the Brazilian who scored. Despite being the highest scoring centre-back in the league since his arrival, Gabriel can’t claim this one.

His header was saved by Karius, but not convincingly enough. The ball seemed to hover on top of the line and as Livramento attempted to clear his lines, he instead struck the ball into the knee of Botman and by the time Karius intervened again - it was too late and one-nil to the Arsenal.

Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover may not have planned that one exactly as it happened, but neither he nor Arteta will care. It marked Arsenal’s 18th set-piece goal so far this season, the most in the league by some distance.

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Kiwior proceeded to head home the 19th set-piece goal in the second-half to really ram home the point that Arsenal's corners seemingly can't be stopped.

2. Kai Havertz scores again

Kai Havertz bagged Arsenal's second

After an underwhelming display from Leandro Trossard in mid-week, Arteta opted to shake things up and opted to let £65m man Havertz spearhead the Gunners attack.

It was a decision that didn’t take too long to be proven right. After some lose touches inside the opening exchanges, Havertz bagged his sixth goal of the campaign to put the Gunners two goals to the good inside 25 minutes.

It was the kind of finish we’ve seen Havertz produce before for Chelsea and now the Gunners, with the lanky German creeping into the heart of the Newcastle penalty area to take full advantage of some dismal Magpies defending.

None of the Newcastle seemed to have any clue where Havertz was or who was meant to be marking him. Karius stood little to no chance when it came to stopping it, with the ex-Blues forward making no mistake from what couldn't have been more than eight yards out.

Havertz should have made it three and ended the game as a contest just minutes into the second-half, but fired wide after being put through on goal by Martinelli.

3. Sensational Saka

Bukayo Saka was among the goals yet again

At the back end of last season, Gunners great Ian Wright seemed to suggest Arteta was relying too much on Saka. Ahead of the loss to Porto on Wednesday, another Arsenal legend in Gilberto Silva echoed a similar sentiment, expressing concerns that fatigue is starting to show.

The England international has now featured in 25 of the 26 league games the Gunners have played this season, as well as every Champions League contest bar one. Saka has a lot of football under his belt for someone who is still, remarkably, only 22 years of age.

And yet, he simply keeps delivering almost every single week. A brace away at West Ham was followed by another brace at Burnley and though he was kept quiet at Porto, Saka responded like he often does with a stellar display against Newcastle.

He nearly scored a stunning solo goal in the first half, but was denied by a neat save. Karius could do little about Saka's strike in the second half, with the Gunners academy graduate cutting back on to his left to nestle his effort into the bottom corner like he has so many times before.

Fabian Schar probably could have done more to clear it, but the delightful build-up makes this another stellar Saka goal. The 22-year-old has now scored seven goals in his last five league outings.

4. Newcastle try the Porto approach

Kieran Trippier went down with a complaint of some kind after 13 minutes but carried on

Eddie Howe would have certainly watched Porto frustrate the Gunners midweek with a touch of the dark arts and Newcastle tried to produce something similar. Howe’s men tried to thwart Arsenal’s momentum and ensure the tension rose quickly inside the ground by taking their sweet time with every dead-ball.

Within 60 seconds Arteta had complained to fourth official Anthony Taylor over what he felt was time-wasting and by the fifth minute referee Paul Tierney had to hurry up Tino Livramento after a particularly slow throw-in. That didn’t do the trick however, with Karius slowing down from every goal-kick.

Arteta could barely believe his eyes when Kieran Tripper went down with a ‘cramp’ after 13 minutes and was quick to remind the officials to add on every second. Bruno Guimaeres tried something similar soon after, but the difference between this clash and the one in mid-week was that the Gunners simply could not be stopped.

They were simply irresistible in the first-half and had Odegaard’s pass to Havertz not been intercepted, the Gunners could have been out of sight before the interval.

5. Newcastle’s leaky defence

Newcastle were battered by Arsenal this time around

Of all the sides in the top 10, none of them have conceded more than the 45 goals Newcastle have now shipped so far this season. Though Arsenal drew a blank at St. James’ Park in November, it was an entirely different story this time around.

In their last two league games coming into this tie, the Gunners had bagged 11 and conceded none. Newcastle aren’t too shabby at finding the back of the net either and had outscored the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham at the start of the match-week, so this clash always promised goals.

Though Schar was passed fit to play despite a wrist injury against Bournemouth last Saturday, the Newcastle backline still struggled to deal with an Arsenal attack that looked in the mood to wreak havoc all night.

If the manner in which they conceded the first was unfortunate, goals two and three were disastrous defending. Kiwior's fourth took a deflection, but there is an argument to be made that Karius still should have done better between the sticks.

6. What this means for the table

Arsenal are still firmly in the title race

Liverpool and Manchester City keep winning and the Gunners keep responding, which in turn leaves Arsenal just two points off of the Reds who sit top. Pep Guardiola’s men will feel the breath of the north Londoners on their neck, given Arteta’s side are now one point behind them.

The Gunners didn’t drop points at home often during last season’s title tilt, but Newcastle were one of the few teams to leave the Emirates with something after the 0-0 draw in January 2023. This time however, they had no such luck and after Wednesday night’s late heartache in Portugal, this is exactly the outcome Arsenal needed to ease any nerves as the business end of the season rapidly approaches.

As for the Geordies, hopes of matching last season’s effort of Champions League qualification are now all but over. For now, they sit eighth, but if Wolves and West Ham win their games on Sunday and Monday respectively, Newcastle could end the match-week languishing as low as 10th in the table.

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Josh O'Brien