'Must win': Paul Merson seems nervous as he predicts the score between Newcastle United and Arsenal this weekend
Newcastle United will hope to continue their streak of beating Arsenal at St James' Park on Sunday when the championship hopefuls come to town for a 4:30 pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.
After putting four goals away last night, albeit against League One opposition, Newcastle will hopefully be feeling much more confident going forward after finding goals very hard to come by this season.
The levels of performance have been there for Eddie Howe's side; there's just been a real issue with creativity in the final third, which they will hope has now been banished after their efforts last night.
Title challengers Arsenal are next up at St James' Park, and the Magpies will need to be at their best from back to front to get the win they crave.
Paul Merson doesn't expect things to go Arsenal's way on Sunday
Former Gunner, Paul Merson, doesn't believe his beloved Arsenal will have an easy time of things, though, as he made his prediction for Sportskeeda.
"Newcastle always turn up against Arsenal. The fans at St James' Park are always good, but they just get a bit more electric in this fixture! Arsenal have lost their last three games there, so this a tricky game for them.
"If Liverpool are held to a draw at Crystal Palace, Arsenal wouldn't mind walking away with a point here. But if the league leaders get another three points, this game automatically falls into the must-win category.
"When you look at Arsenal, they would have faced all of Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle after this weekend. Imagine spending big and not beating any of these three teams that finished in the top five last season? Where is the progress then? Arsenal have a good run of fixtures coming up after this game. But if you don't beat Newcastle, you are basically entering that run with an eight-point lead to chase down.
"If you're a team in the title race, you don't want to be playing catch up when the easy fixtures come along, you want to use them to get away from other contenders and kick on instead!
"Arsenal must not sit back in this game, if they do that, Newcastle will score. I'd play Saka, Eze and Viktor Gyokeres as the front-three here but I don't think Arteta will do that if I'm being honest. I have a feeling Gabriel Martinelli will start instead of Eze. He's a disciplined player and can be useful with his pace. But Eze is the X-factor, he can unlock defences like he showed it against City.
"We saw how Newcastle gave Liverpool a strong fight with just 10 men at St James' Park earlier this season. Liverpool were very fortunate to come away with a win in that game. If you're Arsenal, you want to match what Liverpool did here, but I don't think they can do it.
"Prediction: Newcastle United 1-1 Arsenal"
We'd take the draw if we're being honest
As much as we could really do with a win in the league right now, we'd take a draw against Arsenal.
Eddie Howe hasn't quite worked out his preferred starting XI yet due to circumstances out of his control, so there's been no settled team, and that could be an issue until things level out.
That being said, other than against Leeds and Bournemouth, Newcastle have looked excellent and capable of beating anyone if they could just put the ball in the net.
