Arsenal have moved past their recent wobble to fire themselves back into the Premier League title race. The Gunners are enjoying a run of four straight victories with the most impressive coming 3-1 at home to Liverpool and, emphatically, 6-0 away at West Ham. Mikel Arteta’s men are third in the table, level one point adrift of Manchester City and just five adrift of leaders, Liverpool. As for Newcastle, they also seemed to have worked out a few problems, taking seven points from their last three games, including beating Aston Villa 3-1 away from home, following a four-match losing streak in the league
An Arsenal side reeling from an excruciating injury-time goal host a Newcastle United team who rejoiced in a last-minute intervention in last Saturday’s Premier League clash at the Emirates. The Gunners fell to a 1-0 loss in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League affair with Porto on Wednesday evening, while Eddie Howe’s men left it late to snatch a point in a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth last weekend.
Record-breaking goalscoring feats in Premier League away games did not translate into an evening of continental dominance for Arsenal on Wednesday, where a defensively-sound Porto unit did not allow the Gunners a single shot on target in their opening Champions League knockout tie, which was destined to end without the net bulging once.
However, naivety cost Mikel Arteta’s men dear in additional time, as rather than maintaining control of the ball and seeing out a respectable goalless draw, the young guns conceded possession and conceded to Galeno, who beat David Raya all ends up with a phenomenal curler into the corner.
The unusually shot-shy Gunners – who last failed to have a shot on target in a Champions League game in 2011 – still have 90 minutes in North London to right their European wrongs, though, and Arteta’s men resume Premier League duty on a historic five-game winning sequence in the top flight.
By tearing Burnley to shreds in a 5-0 slaughter last weekend, Arsenal won their opening five league fixtures of a calendar year for the first time in their history, but Arteta’s troops remain in the bronze medal position in the table, one point behind Manchester City and five behind Liverpool, who have played an additional game. Now on the hunt for a third straight Premier League home success following triumphs over Crystal Palace and Liverpool – notching eight goals along the way, Arsenal still boast the division’s meanest defence with just 22 goals shipped, but Newcastle and Porto have something in common when it comes to keeping the Gunners out. Keeping their fans thoroughly entertained throughout February so far, Newcastle had already shared the spoils in an eight-goal Luton Town extravaganza and defeated Nottingham Forest in a 3-2 thriller before welcoming Bournemouth to St James’ Park for another riveting affair last weekend. Twice the Cherries went ahead in the second 45 through Dominic Solanke and Antoine Semenyo, and twice Newcastle hit back through an Anthony Gordon penalty and the unlikeliest of sources in Matt Ritchie, whose injury-time intervention prolonged the Magpies’ unbeaten streak. After coming out on the losing side in seven of their eight fixtures from December 7 to January 1, Newcastle have now only been beaten in one of their last seven affairs in all tournaments – winning three and drawing two of their most recent five – to reignite their European charge, although the Champions League dream remains a distant dream for now.
Eighth in the table and with a seven-point gap to make up to sixth-placed Manchester United, usurping Brighton & Hove Albion in the Europa Conference League spot is currently Newcastle’s best bet for a return to continent, and the Magpies head to North London with multiple goals struck in their last six Premier League outings. Eddie Howe’s men have also gone without a clean sheet in their last eight top-flight battles, but they came away from the Emirates with a 0-0 draw last January before November’s fiery 1-0 triumph at St James’ Park, where Gordon’s winner survived three VAR checks and was labelled a “disgrace” by an infuriated Arteta.
