Key events
That’s all for this liveblog. If you fancy some more live action, the great Scott Murray is on Ryder Cup duty. You won’t believe the score!
Mikel Arteta’s verdict
The way we performed, the way we competed, the chances were generated… we won in a very dramatic manner but I think we fully deserved it. I’m so happy and so proud of the team.
[On the scars from previous trips to St James’ Park and overcoming adversity today] That’s how you get to a different level: by going through those moments and learning from them.
We discussed the fact this game was a massive opportunity to make a statement and to prove to everybody – and ourselves – the team that we are. We did that with the performance and thankfully, at the end, the result. Newcastle are a terrific team; they are so difficult to play against.
It’s the way we played – the courage, the determination, the intelligence and quality we showed… We want to achieve the next level and to do that you have to come to these places, when a lot is at stake, and play with the conviction and desire to get it done.
[On the impact of this win after Liverpool’s defeat at Palace] There are moments, opportunities, in the season and you have find a way to come to these places and win.
[Nick] Pope was exceptional. Some of the saves he made – wow. Fair play to him. But we insisted, we believed, we maintained our composure against a team that is very good at managing a result.
[On the penalty that wasn’t] If it’s not a clear and obvious error, VAR should not intervene. We’ve been told this for a few years. For me, it’s very clear that VAR doesn’t have to intervene because it was a penalty.
Louise Taylor’s match report
Arsenal reaction
Bukayo Saka
It’s unbelievable, man. Late winners – there’s nothing better in football. I’m speechless, I’m so happy.
[Does it feel like a St James’ Park curse has been broken?] Yeah, and there’s a few things we could speak about like the penalty. VAR is for a clear and obvious error, so if it took the referee that long to decide it’s not a clear and obvious error. Things like that always go against us, but today we got what we deserved and that’s why we’re so happy. [The penalty] doesn’t matter now, does it?
Mikel Merino
Late winners are the best. From my perspective it’s even greater [Merino played for Newcastle in 2017-18]. Coming back here is always big for me; great memories, an amazing place. I was only here a year but it was a big part of my life and my career. Being able to score and help the team from the bench is incredible.
[On moving two points behind Liverpool] Maybe that’s more for the fans and for you guys than for us. We know how much hard work we’ve been putting in and the performances we’ve been producing.
Winning the way we did today shows the character of the team, how much we trust each other and how confident we are. We have an amazing team, amazing squad, amazing staff and obviously amazing fans. We’re ready for it.
Haway the title race
Oh, just one more thing…
Both Arsenal goals were from corners. No judgement – I couldn’t care less – but a fascinating detail in the ongoing Arteta Wars.
A grown-up writes
“Hard to say that’s not deserved,” says Chris Paraskevas. “Don’t think Newcastle’s midfield (Tonali, Bruno, Joelinton) ever really got into this game properly and took it by the scruff of the neck. Kept dropping deeper without keeping the ball carefully enough when they got it.
“Don’t think Howe quite got his set-up right either, with Dan Burn at left-back creating prohlems. Seemed to be playing as a midfielder in the second half?
“An odd, nervy performance from us but we are a work in progress, and Arsenal have arguably the most balanced squad in the EPL.”
“Can’t believe how conservative and cautious Arsenal were today,” deadpans Angus Chisholm.
So, does today prove Mikel Arteta was right or wrong last week? There was a similar discussion when, having binaried their way through Euro 2012, Spain thrashed Italy 4-0 in the final.
The dream for Arsenal is that this game eventually sits alongside three famous coming-of-age victories, all away from home against big rivals:
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Spurs 1-2 Arsenal (Littlewoods Cup semi-final, 4 March 1987)
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Man Utd 0-1 Arsenal (Premier League, 14 March 1998)
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Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal (Premier League, 23 December 2001)
Whether it will, not even Biff Tannen knows, and perhaps the concept of a coming-of-age victory in September is an oxymoron. But Arsenal desperately needed this particular kind of statement victory: from behind, against the odds (at least in their heads), up north, against a team they don’t like one bit, with a last-minute winner, on a ground that has brought them only misery in recent years.
In short, it ticks a lot of boxes for a footballing rite of passage. If they win the Premier League this year, this game will go into Arsenal folklore.
Full time: Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal
Gabriel sinks to his knees and roars in triumph. That is such a precious victory for Arsenal. They move to within two points of Liverpool, but it’s the manner of the win that will empower their title challenge and set up different neural pathways in the brain.
90+8 min There’s no doubt Arsenal deserve the win overall. Don’t be surprised if Newcastle querty whether Gabriel should haave been sent off for shoving his hand into Woltemade’s neck/face just after Newcastle’s goal. The other thing is that the corner stemmed from a mistake by Pope, who gave the ball away cheaply with a loose kick-out. I thnk he thought he was fouled but so much was happening that I haven’t seen it.
Gabriel Magalhaes has scored a mighty goal for Arsenal! He was a minor shambles for Woltemade’s goal but he’s had the final word, and then some. Odegaard coaxed a terrific inswinging corner from the right into the six-yard box, Pope was blocked (legitimately) by Saliba and Gabriel rose highest to head into the empty net.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal (Gabriel 90+6)
The title race starts here!
90+5 min: Great defending by Thiaw!
Odegaard, just to the left of centre, knifes Newcastle open with a stunning through pass to Lewis-Skelly in the area. He has options galore in the middle but his cross from just outside the six-yard box is crucially blocked by the sliding Thiaw. Arsenal are pushing furiously.
90+4 min: Newcastle substitution Harvey Barnes replaces Joelinton.
90+3 min There is a feasible scenario whereby the ultimate success or failure of Mikel Arteta’s time at Arsenal comes down to the next five minutes. If they are going to take the next step, they need something like a 98th-minute winner after coming from behind against a team they don’t like on a recent bogey ground.
90+2 min Right now Arsenal look the likelier winners, but then so did England against Romania in 1998.
90 min There will be eight minutes of added time.
Saliba, who has been booked, trips Osula just outside the area. Thankfully for him, a foul (or offside) had already been given against Osula.
88 min Dan Burn is booked for a tactical foul. Meanwhile, Myles Lewis-Skelly has come on for Leandro Trossard.
87 min: No penalty! It was a block tackle between Elanga and Gabriel, with the ball ricocheting against the upraised arm of the sliding Gabriel. That’s really tough to adjudicate and therefore to overturn. Had it been an uncontested shot from Elanga a penalty might have been given, but he and Gabriel kicked the ball almost simultaneously.
Gabriel was also en route to the canvas, which sometimes increases a defender’s slack.
86 min: VAR check for a Newcastle penalty Elanga’s cross-shot hits the raised arm of the falling Gabriel in the penalty area. Mikel Arteta may be about to explode.
Rice took a short corner on the left, got the ball back from Odegaard and whipped a terrific first-time cross into the middle. Merino rose before Botman, eight yards out, and flicked an ultra-precise header across the motionless Pope. The ball hit the inside of the post and bounced into the net. That is such a good finish.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-1 Arsenal (Merino 84)
Mikel Merino equalises with an expert header!
84 min “Nick Pope might get a hypothetical game for Man United,” writes Matt Dony, “but we know he definitely wouldn’t be able to influence the formation. Boom.”
83 min Joelinton kicks the ball away, is booked and then sarcastically applauds the referee. Careful now.
82 min: Arsenal substitution Martin Odegaard replaces Martin Zubimendi.
81 min Eze flicks a nice pass round the corner to find Gyokeres just inside the area. He rides one challenge but then slips in the act of shooting; the ball hits his standing/sliding foot and flies well wide.
It wasn’t a clear chance as there were bodies flying everywhere, but with a clean shot Gyokeres would have fancied his chances.
80 min Arsenal have been on top for most of the second half, but their last clear chance was that Timber header in the 59th minute. Newcastle’s defensive record is excellent this season; this would be a fifth clean sheet in six Premier League game.
77 min: Newcastle substitution Tino Livramento is being stretchered off, hands over his head. He’s not in agony but he does look pretty devastated. Jamaal Lascelles replaces him; he goes to centre-back with Dan Burn moving across to left wing-back.
Livramento jumped early to win a header against Saliba, who leaned into him while he was in mid-air. That meant Livramento fell awkwardly and, as it tunred out, very painfully.
76 min “Livramento has been quietly superb,” writes Chris Paraskevas. “And for all the stick I give Nick Pope about his first touch, are there any better pure shot-stoppers in the EPL? He’s proven in the UCL that he can mix it with the best. After 100+ games… he has proven to be one of our best signings ever.”
Agreed. He consistently makes eye-widening saves, a virtue that seems to be going out of fashion. Let’s put it this way: he might get a game for Manchester United.
75 min Livramento landed awkwardly after that foul from Saliba and is receiving treatment. He looks like a man who fears his game is over.
74 min I think this is the revised Arsenal formation. Don’t quote me though because there’s a lot going on.
Arsenal (3-1-2-3-1) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel; Zubimendi; Merino, Rice; Martinelli, Eze, Trossard; Gyokeres.
72 min Saliba is booked for an unusually brainless foul on Livramento.
71 min A long throw from the right finds its way through to Gyokeres, whose shot on the turn takes a deflection and flies wide of the far post. That was a much sharper bit of centre-forward play.
70 min: Double substitution Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino replaces Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori. No idea what their revised shape is yet.
69 min Saka’s deflected shot is miscontrolled by Gyokeres, eight yards out the far post. It was an awkward ball to take and in hindsight maybe he should have taken the shot first time. Easy to say from here, and there were defenders between him and the goal.
68 min This is Newcastle’s revised shape.
Newcastle (5-4-1) Pope; Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Livramento; Elanga, Tonali, Bruno, Joelinton; Osula.
67 min: Triple substitution for Newcastle Will Osula, Kieran Trippier and Anthony Elanga replace Jacob Murphy, Anthony Gordon and Nick Woltemade. That means a switch to a back five.
Woltemade received a cracking ovation as he left the field. They love a No9 at Newcastle, even when he wears No27.
64 min: Chance for Newcastle! Arsenal are almost stung on the break. Murphy makes an excellent run through the inside-left channel and is found deftly by Tonali (I think).
At one point Murphy has the run on Rice and is through on goal, but there’s a long way to travel and Rice is able to recover and block the eventual shot at the expense of a corner.
