We aim to maintain our 100 per cent winning league record in 2024 when Newcastle United head to north London on Saturday night, as well as extract revenge for our controversial defeat at St James’ Park back in November.
Anthony Gordon’s VAR-assisted goal ended our unbeaten start to the campaign, but fixtures between the two teams at Emirates Stadium have been much more to our liking. We are undefeated in Newcastle’s last 11 visits, winning 10, and have kept a clean sheet in the last six - a run going back to December 2014.
An inconsistent season for the Magpies does currently see them unbeaten in their last four games and winning the last two on their travels. However with ourselves enjoying a purple patch in front of goal and Eddie Howe struggling to plug a porous defence, Mikel Arteta will be hoping that we can find a way to seal a sixth-straight top-flight win.
Black and whites turned black and blue
While they may have enjoyed the thrill of thrashing PSG 4-1 in the Champions League before their group-stage exit, a first season juggling European and domestic football in a decade has caught up with the Magpies, and the unrelenting amount of injuries to key players reflects in their results.
They head into this weekend eighth in the table, but are slipping further behind in the race to ensure European nights remain on Tyneside next term. They were just four points behind us after we last met in November, but 14 games later an 18-point margin has opened up with Howe’s team winning just five times in the league since.
Their 8-0 demolition of Sheffield United in September had been their only away league success until recent weeks, but wins at Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest have helped turn that corner. An FA Cup fifth-round tie at Blackburn Rovers next week offers a chance to take one step closer to ending their infamous 55-year trophy drought.
What the managers say
Arteta: “I ask everybody to go there tomorrow night with full energy because the team is going to need it. We are in a really good moment in the Premier League and we want to continue to be there and tomorrow's game is vital to achieve that.
"Newcastle are a really good team. They are very well-coached, and they have fantastic players. They have great spirit within the team and they are difficult to beat for us and for many, many opponents. They have changed a little bit [since our last match] and might have some players who are not available, and the same for us so let’s see." - read every word from Mikel’s pre-match press conference
Howe: "We will need to replicate close to our best performance in order to get something from the game. We've had some really good games against Arsenal in recent seasons - very tight affairs.
"Last season at the Emirates was a really battling performance from us. Defensively, we're going to need to improve from where we have been in recent weeks. Arsenal this season have been very, very good in every aspect of the game - statistically one of the best teams in the league, and rightly where they are in the table. It will be a challenge for us.
"We are desperate to try and close the gap on the teams above us, so we've got a lot to be motivated for. Hopefully, the confidence is returning."
Team news
Fabio Vieira made the bench in Porto as he eyes his first appearance since November following his groin surgery, while Thomas Partey has also returned to training in recent weeks.
Gabriel Jesus (knee), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knock) have all been out for the past couple of weeks, while Jurrien Timber is still out long-term with his knee injury sustained back in August.
The Magpies’ treatment room has been packed this season, and Nick Pope, Joelinton, Callum Wilson, Elliott Anderson and Matt Targett will definitely miss this game through injury, while Sandro Tonali is banned.
Fabian Schar ended last weekend’s game against Bournemouth clutching his wrist but should be fine to play, while Howe will hope that ex-Gunner Joe Willock (hamstring) and Alexander Isak (groin) could feature after they returned to training this week.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the matchday programme: Howe’s go-to strategy in matches of this ilk is to be pragmatic, with an eye to hurting their opponents using the pace and ball-carrying abilities of Gordon and his fellow frontmen from breakaways and turnovers.
On their last visit Newcastle were very defensive, putting 11 men behind the ball and averaging 33 per cent possession. In that framework playing in their usual 4-3-3, they like to pack central areas and will be aggressive in their off-the-ball work.
Newcastle have created the second-highest number of ‘big chances’ according to Opta. They work studiously on dead ball situations and have racked up 11 set-piece goals, a tally only Everton and ourselves can top. Kieran Trippier’s wicked deliveries from the flanks are a real strength, and the England international would love to add to his 10 assists.
At the other end, the Magpies have already leaked 41 goals this term, eight more than the entirety of the previous campaign and worryingly for them, 20 have been conceded in the past eight. Five counter-attack strikes have found the back of their net, which is an area Arteta’s side could well exploit given the pace in our team.
Facts and stats
We have lost just one of our 12 home Premier League games this season (W9 D2), winning seven of their last eight.
Newcastle have won just two of their last 34 Premier League away games against sides starting the day in the top three (D3 L29).
Our 30 Premier League clean sheets against the Magpies is the most any side has kept against another in the competition. We have recorded seven consecutive home clean sheets against Newcastle - we’ve never kept eight successive on home soil against an opponent in our league history.
Mikel Arteta remains unbeaten at home against Newcastle as our manager without conceding a single goal, while Eddie Howe has never beaten us away in the Premier League in seven attempts.
Newcastle are looking to complete the Premier League double against us for just the second time, previously doing so in 1994/95.
We are unbeaten in our last 20 Premier League games that have come after playing in Europe in midweek, stretching back to February 2021.
Bukayo Saka has scored in four consecutive league appearances, scoring as many goals in this run (6) as he managed in his first 20 games this season. He has had a hand in 23 goals across his last 25 Premier League starts at the Emirates (15G 8A).
We have won each of our last two Premier League games by 5+ goals; only Aston Villa (April 1899), Chelsea (May-August 2010) and Man City (September 2017) have won three consecutive games by 5+ goals in top-flight history.
Match officials
It is a swift reunion with Paul Tierney on Saturday, after we ended a seven-game winless run under his watch during the 5-0 win against Crystal Palace last month. That was his second Gunners game of the campaign, having also overseen our 2-2 draw with Fulham back in August.
He has yet to referee the Magpies this season, who won all of the three games he directed last term. Tierney has brandished 73 yellow cards and three reds in 2023/24, plus pointed to the spot six times in 20 matches.
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistants: Neil Davies, Nick Hopton
Fourth official: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Peter Bankes
Assistant VAR: Lee Betts
Previous visits from Newcastle
Last season’s 0-0 draw ended our 10-game winning run in this fixture, and you have to go all the way back to November 2010 for the Tynesiders’ only Emirates victory from 18 visits in all competitions.
In November 2021 second-half goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli sealed a 2-0 win, while in January of that year Newcastle were beaten twice in the space of nine days in north London, with a Saka effort plus a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace recording a 3-0 success. The Gabon striker was also on target alongside Emile Smith Rowe in an FA Cup triumph the previous week.
A 4-0 thrashing came back in the early weeks of Arteta’s tenure when Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette all found the net, and indeed it has been nine years since the Magpies last found the net on our turf, when Ayoze Perez netted in a 4-1 Toon defeat in December 2014.
Watch highlights of six classic encounters with Newcastle, including a Patrick Vieira thunderbolt, a 10-goal thriller and a Ray Parlour hat-trick.
Live coverage
Tune into Breakdown Live on Arsenal.com and the official app an hour before kick-off wherever you’re watching the game worldwide for the best build-up!
Nick Bright and Adrian Clarke will be on hosting duties at Emirates Stadium, providing in-depth analysis of where they feel the game will be won and lost alongside a host of guests, including Gunners legend Perry Groves, Locksmith from Rudimental and rapper Ghetts.
Then when kick-off comes, live commentary will be provided by Dan Roebuck and Nigel Winterburn as they hope to be describing our sixth-straight league win at the full-time whistle.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the game live in your region.
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