St James’ Park awaits – The Newcastle v Arsenal preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Newcastle v Arsenal preview.

Sunday 28th September – A 4.30pm kick-off.

Newcastle United will be looking to achieve only their second Premier League victory of the season this weekend, at home to an in-form Arsenal team who harbour ambitions of winning their first title since 2004.

The gunners have struggled at Gallowgate in recent years and the Toon Army will be hoping this continues on Sunday afternoon, live on Sky Sports.

A late kick-off will undoubtedly help with the atmosphere and a win for United could really kickstart our season. Arsenal won’t be relishing a visit to Tyneside, having lost four of their past five visits in all competitions. This is one not to be missed!

Form

Newcastle have played five Premier League games this season, winning one, drawing three and losing one. We’ve scored three and conceded three. Four clean sheets in five league matches shows how difficult we are to break down, put things right at the other end of the field and this season could be looking very bright for NUFC. We currently sit thirteenth in the league but three points could have us as high as fifth depending on results elsewhere.

Arsenal have also played five Premier League matches. They’ve won three, drawn one and lost one. The ten points they’ve achieved has them second in the table but already trailing Liverpool by five points. They’ve scored ten goals so far and conceded just two and that plus eight goal difference is currently the best in the top flight.

Last time out

The Toon hosted Bradford at home on Wednesday night and ran out comfortable winners. The Bantams started strongly but well taken strikes from both Joelinton and Osula had us two goals to the good by half-time with Osula also forcing two more good saves in one of his best games for the club. The second half saw Joelinton end the match as a contest when putting us 3-0 up before Bradford striker Cook had his moment of glory with a fine goal to reduce the arrears, a special one for him being a lifelong Toon fan. Newcastle continued to push for further goals and Harvey Barnes went close on two separate occasions before Osula completed the scoring with his third of the season to seal a 4-1 win and set up a home tie with Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal travelled to Port Vale on Wednesday night also, in the league cup, and managed to avoid a banana skin of their own. They recorded a 2-0 win to secure a place in the fourth round where they’ll host Brighton and Hove Albion.

Stat attack!

Newcastle have won three of their last four home League matches with Arsenal.

Thirty Premier League meetings at St James’ Park have taken place between the two sides. These have resulted in nine victories for the Toon, eight draws and thirteen Arsenal wins.

Newcastle achieved three wins in four matches against Arsenal last season, scoring five goals and conceding just one.

Memorable match

In 95/96, Newcastle United were sweeping almost everyone aside. In fact, we won an incredible seventeen home league games that season, with only Man United and Tottenham taking anything from Gallowgate.

We celebrated the new year in style on Jan 2nd when Arsenal came to town. David Ginola took just two minutes to blast an effort into the top corner and set United on their way to an eleventh straight home Premier League victory. The points were secured early in the second half by Sir Les Ferdinand, who latched on to a cracking through ball from Warren Barton to smash home our second of the match. There was still time for Paul Kitson to smack an effort off the upright as the Toon threatened to run riot on what was a fine performance and result for NUFC. Unfortunately, there was to be a sting in the tail just eight days later in a ludicrously unfair League Cup quarter-final defeat at Highbury. Ginola in particular was on the receiving end of downright thuggery that night before being sent off for retaliation as the Gunners cheated their way to revenge. Final Score Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal.

Sol Campbell was something of an Arsenal legend, having signed on a free from deadly rivals Tottenham Hotspur and then becoming a part of the team that won the Premier League title at White Hart Lane in 2004. He also scored against Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League Final. He went on to have spells at Portsmouth, Notts County and Arsenal again before signing for the Toon in 2010, playing just a handful of matches for the Magpies. A tremendous talent in his prime, we never got to see him anywhere near his best as he struggled for both form and fitness during his time at St James’ Park.

Mathieu Debuchy signed for the Toon along with four other French players in January 2013 as Mike Ashley splashed the cash in a bid to avoid relegation just a few months after finishing fifth in the Premier League. His one goal for NUFC was an oft-forgotten equaliser away at Sunderland in a 2-1 defeat. Had that strike come in a draw or win over our arch rivals, he’d have achieved cult status at NUFC. He signed for Arsenal in 2014 and spent four seasons in North London.

Issue 276 – 9 February 2013

Current Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino had all the makings of a fan favourite when playing for Newcastle in the 17/18 season, his ability was clear for all to see. His one goal for the Toon was a late winner at home to Crystal Palace. Unfortunately, he struggled badly with various injuries during his time with us and returned to Spain after just one season.

Managers

Eddie Howe after a 4-1 win at home to Bradford:

“We want to win whatever is put in front of us, and the attitude stems from us, the coaches, and it should filter down. There is no difference between the games; these are opportunities to win trophies, and you can’t just turn them away. So, the hard rounds are the early ones. They are very difficult. Last year, we had to battle through against Wimbledon on the way to winning it; Bradford was the same. The mentality, you can’t switch off. We wanted to win and wanted to score and try to entertain everybody that came. I thought we did that. We created a lot of opportunities and people impressed, that only helps the team win consistently. The lads are very aware of the strength in depth, so everyone in their position will be looking over their shoulder going, ‘If I don’t play well today, there’s someone else waiting to take my shirt’.”

Mikel Arteta after a 2-0 League cup victory away at Port Vale:

“We tried not to give them momentum. We started the game really well, scored the goal, had another two big open situations but didn’t manage to score from that. In the second half, especially the first part of it, they started to play directly, throw in after throw in, they started to threaten our box, we lacked a bit of control there but at the end, with the changes, some impact players coming in, we win the game. It’s all about momentum – the thing that they want to generate. Every opportunity that they have, they just play direct and they want to attack your box. They are really good at it.

Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.

For further info and/or to donate online go HERE.

Arsenal are in good form at the moment but the Toon are very hard to beat and have looked solid at the back. I think Arsenal will take an early lead but this will only serve to galvanise both the Toon team and fans. Back will come United and the pressure will eventually tell near the end with a wildly celebrated equaliser. Both teams will then have to be content with a well deserved point from a quality match of football. Newcastle 1-1 Arsenal.