Saturday sees Newcastle United pitch up at Emirates Stadium, and if our past encounters are anything to go by, goals are almost guaranteed.
We have enjoyed some memorable matches against the Magpies, including high-scoring home wins, strikes that have gone down in history and one of the highest-scoring matches in Premier League history.
We’ve selected six special meetings with the Geordies that Gooners will enjoy reflecting on ahead of the latest instalment:
April 11, 1998
Arsenal 3-1 Newcastle United
In a dress rehearsal for the FA Cup final the following month, we blew the Tynesiders away to keep the pressure on Manchester United at the top of the table. Just as he would at Wembley, Nicolas Anelka drove a shot into the bottom of Shay Given’s net to open the scoring after 41 minutes, and then tapped home just after the hour mark after good work from Ray Parlour.
However the goal of the game came on 72 minutes when Patrick Vieira unleashed a rocket of a shot from 30 yards that ripped into the Newcastle net to seal the points, rendering Warren Barton’s late consolation meaningless as we began to show our Double credentials.
December 9, 2000
Arsenal 5-0 Newcastle United
This was an afternoon Parlour would never forget as he took home the matchball, with a perfect hat-trick no less. Thierry Henry brilliantly controlled a Tony Adams pass to slide home the opener on 13 minutes before Parlour grabbed his first three minutes later when he drilled a left-footed strike into the net after some Nwankwo Kanu skill.
The Nigerian was next on the scoresheet not long after the restart before Parlour headed in a Henry cross on 86 minutes, leaving the Romford Pele just a few more minutes to complete his treble. He managed it with seconds remaining after a lung-busting run and right-footed finish to complete the rout.
September 26, 2003
Arsenal 3-2 Newcastle United
Amidst monsoon-like conditions at Highbury, the goals rained down on this fixture. We took the lead when Henry pounced on a miscue from Titus Bramble but Newcastle swiftly struck back via a Laurent Robert tap-in to go into the break level.
The second half saw a thunderous Gilberto header put us back ahead, but Bobby Robson’s side again responded with a wonderstrike from Olivier Bernard. With the match finely balanced, Jermaine Jenas handled a corner in the box with 10 minutes to go, and Henry stepped up to cheekily chip the penalty past Given to score a major early-season win for our Invincibles-elect.
December 29, 2012
Arsenal 7-3 Newcastle United
In one of the craziest games in Premier League history, we netted seven times with Theo Walcott grabbing three of them. Incredibly, the match was in the balance at half-time at 1-1 after Demba Ba’s deflected free-kick cancelled out Walcott’s opener, and then Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sylvain Marveaux traded goals before the hour mark.
Lukas Podolski scrambled us ahead again before Ba made it 3-3, but Walcott’s second of the game on 73 minutes broke Newcastle’s resilience. Two late Olivier Giroud goals took the game away from them, and then Walcott danced his way around four defenders before clipping the ball past Tim Krul to put the lid on a crazy evening’s football.
December 13, 2014
Arsenal 4-1 Newcastle United
Nearly two years later, the Magpies were put to the sword again as Giroud helped himself to another brace at their expense. His first came on 14 minutes when he produced a trademark towering header to nod past rookie keeper Jak Alnwick, and after the break Santi Cazorla glided into the box before dinking the ball into the net to double our advantage.
Four minutes later Giroud wrapped up proceedings when he steered in a Hector Bellerin centre, and while Ayoze Perez pulled one back by heading in a free-kick, Paul Dummett’s late foul on Danny Welbeck allowed Cazorla the chance to add his second from the spot, and like Henry 11 years earlier he produced a Paneka to seal the win in style.
February 16, 2020
Arsenal 4-0 Newcastle United
A devastating second-half display saw Mikel Arteta’s side start to find their groove under their new boss. Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe both came close before Joelinton headed a Shkodran Mustafi effort off the line, but our pressure finally told on 54 minutes when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally headed us in front.
That was swiftly followed by Pepe tucking home a second after great work from Saka, and after Alain Saint-Maximin rattled the crossbar from range, we clinched the victory and added extra gloss to the scoreline late on through Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette.
Watch all these classic games and see more in our playlist
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