AFTER beating Manchester City at home, Arsenal looked as though they could be the real deal this season.
Yet less than a month later and Mikel Arteta’s team, following their first Premier League defeat of the season, are once again three points behind the champions.
Arteta and his Arsenal team suffered a reality check on a horrible night up here in the north-east, both in terms of the weather and the game itself which was a bruising, bad-tempered and most of all, hugely-controversial scrap.
Equally, it illustrated that Newcastle, after their slightly dodgy start, should once again be fighting for a Champions League place this season.
Eddie Howe’s side, who destroyed Manchester United 3-0 in the Carabao Cup midweek, had to put in a completely different type of performance, one brimming with guts and determination, even though they needed a huge slice of luck.
In a season when VAR has taken centre stage on too many occasions, we had the mind-boggling situation when Anthony Gordon’s 64th minute winner needed three separate VAR checks.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
But Stockley Park ruled that Joe Willock kept the ball in, that Joelinton did not foul Arsenal defender Gabriel and Gordon was not offside.
Newcastle were fortunate because the ball did look to be out of play when Willock crossed for the goal.
Also, on a night of crushing tackles and flying elbows, Bruno Guimaraes should have been sent off.
He was lucky to stay on the pitch for shoving his arm into the back of Jorginho in the first half yet incredibly, after a VAR check, he did not even get a caution.
Most read in Football
FREE BETS – BEST BETTING OFFERS AND BONUSES NEW CUSTOMERS
Had he got a yellow card, then his caution near the end of the game – when he pushed the face of Fabio Vieira – would have resulted in a sending off.
Equally, this hard-fought win was a huge boost for Toon boss Howe who has also been hit with injuries.
But now, they must lift themselves for a huge game away to Dortmund on Tuesday but certainly, they cannot allow themselves to be anywhere near as flat as they were for much of this match.
Even though it was their first loss in the league, it is obvious that Arteta must move into the transfer market this January.
Despite scoring a hat-trick in the 5-0 win over Sheffield United, Eddie Nketiah once again struggled and it is obvious that Arsenal must sign Ivan Toney.
Also, the Arsenal manager’s decision to stick with David Raya in goal looks flawed as the Spaniard was at fault for the winner.
The only interesting moments of the first half came in terms of both sets of players and officials going for each other.
Technical area terriers Jason Tindall and Mikel Arteta lost their cool when Kai Havertz flung himself to the ground after believing he was shoved in the face by Guimareas, something which did not impress Tindall, Howe’s No2.
Yet about 15 players then piled into each other when Havertz delivered a late challenge on Sean Longstaff.
Despite the Newcastle players demanding a red card, Attwell got the decision right and it was only a yellow but the refl then, incredibly, booked Antony Gordon, Longstaff and Fabian Schar for complaining,
Yet the luckiest player on the pitch was Guimaraes who avoided a dismissal after shoving his forearm into the back of Jorginho’s head.
Incredibly, the first shot on target came through Martinelli in first half stoppage time but it was an easy save for Nick Pope.
In fact, neither side did much better in the second half until Howe made his subs just after the hour with Willock and Murphy being introduced for the tiring Miguel Almiron and Callum Wilson.
And Howe could not have expected that within a minute, both of his subs would play a part in the winner, even though it was a complete mess.
Murphy’s shot flashed across the goal and the ball was kept in play by Willock and his cross was dealt with terribly by flapping Arsenal keeper Raya.
Joelinton and Gabriel both went for the ball and it fell perfectly for Gordon to stab the ball over the line from a yard out.
Arsenal’s players were convinced the goal would be disallowed as the home crowd soon went silent after fearing the worst.
But after three separate checks totalling four minutes and six seconds the goal was awarded. VAR pictures could not see for sure whether the ball was out or if Joelinton also handled while running into Gabriel.
Read More on The Sun
In the final 10 minutes, it was Newcastle’s defence who stepped up. They gave everything to hold off an Arsenal side who pushed for a leveller but did not look as though they really believed it was possible.
While there is no doubt that Arteta’s side will once again challenge this season, the problem is they are now playing under a bit of pressure – and it is starting to show.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
