'It's a big one': Gary Neville says Newcastle United can pile pressure on Arsenal on Sunday
Newcastle United meet Arsenal at St James' Park on Sunday for a 4:30pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.
The Gunners snatched a very late 1-1 draw with Manchester City yesterday as Gabriel Martinelli scored an equaliser three minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Their failure to win leaves them five points behind Liverpool already at such an early stage in the season, with Newcastle United up next for Mikel Arteta.
Eddie Howe seems to have a formula for beating Arsenal, having beaten Arteta three times last season, including a Carabao Cup semi-final double.
Newcastle can heap misery and early pressure on Mikel Arteta on Sunday
Newcastle don't quite look up to speed this season, particularly up front, but a win against Arsenal on home turf would soon lift the pessimism around St James' Park, and Gary Neville believes it would have the exact opposite effect on Arteta's lads as he told Sky Sports after the game against City (h/t Newcastle World).
“We’ve got Newcastle vs Arsenal next Sunday, haven’t we?. So that will be interesting because, again, it’s a big one for Arsenal. It’s another difficult game, and if you lose that, you’re eight points behind Liverpool. So, there’s a bit of pressure on Arsenal.
“He (Arteta) won’t get massive criticism off the back of this game because they’re playing against Manchester City, but there are still those questions that will be asked. Forget us asking them, these fans that were behind our ears shouting ‘Play forward, get him on, get him on’. They're asking the same questions as us. We’re all in the same boat.”
We hope Arsenal aren't expecting us to roll over to allow them to close the gap
Liverpool has managed to grind out wins in games where they've not been at their best, which has helped them to fly into a strong position early on. It's less than ideal for either Newcastle or Arsenal, but with the Gunners heavily backed to be Liverpool's closest rivals again this season, it's not the best of starts.
There's no love lost between Arsenal and Newcastle, so we hope they're not expecting any favours on Sunday. We've got our own league position to improve, thanks.
We have the matter of the Carabao Cup tie against Bradford on Wednesday night to deal with first, however. A win there would definitely boost confidence going into Sunday's game.
