Newcastle United denied three points by late Arsenal show as former Magpie sets Gunners on their way to victory
Newcastle United failed to add to their 1-0 first-half advantage against Arsenal and paid the ultimate price late in the game, ultimately losing 1-2.
In a weekend that has been dominated by stoppage-time goals, Newcastle fans could probably feel it in the air as Arsenal kept pressing and probing as the game drew to a close.
It had looked like Eddie Howe had got the better of Mikel Arteta again as nobody could seem to work out what formation Howe had gone for with his team selection, and that confusion ultimately led to the Magpies snatching the lead via a Nick Woltemade header on 34 minutes after Cristhian Mosquera needlessly sliced the ball out for a Newcastle corner.
Before that, however, VAR created a few of those Mikel Arteta tears we love so much when the referee awarded a penalty after Nick Pope had brought down Viktor Gyokeres on 14 minutes. However, upon review, it was decided that Pope had actually played the ball before the man, and the decision was overturned.
Arsenal did exactly what top sides do and kept going till the end
Arsenal players throwing themselves to the floor to try and cheat the ref was a theme throughout the game, but Aussie referee Jarrad Gillett wasn't buying what Arsenal were selling.
They had even appealed after Newcastle scored, suggesting that Nick Woltemade had pushed over Brazilian defender Gabriel, but the reality was that there was barely even enough contact to knock him off balance. Pure embarrassment.
Gabriel, who ultimately bagged the winner, should really think himself lucky he was still on the pitch to snatch it for Arsenal after chinning Nick Woltemade during a challenge in the first half. The Brazilian tried to apologise to the German, but he wasn't having any of it. How VAR didn't get involved, we'll never know.
Who was your Player of the Match against Arsenal?
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Nick Pope32%
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Tino Livramento0%
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Malick Thiaw47%
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Sven Botman0%
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Dan Burn0%
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Bruno Guimaraes0%
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Joelinton0%
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Sandro Tonali5%
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Jacob Murphy0%
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Anthony Gordon0%
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Nick Woltemade11%
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Anthony Elanga0%
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Will Osula0%
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Jamaal Lascelles0%
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Harvey Barnes0%
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Kieran Trippier5%
Malick Thiaw is more of a Rolls-Royce than Sven Botman the Rolls-Royce
In the 84th minute, former Magpie Mikel Merino flicked a header onto the far post and in, moments after coming off the bench to restore parity for the visitors, before Gabriel nicked the winner deep into stoppage time.
It was an absolute sucker punch for Newcastle, who had defended brilliantly all game. That pairing of Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw is already looking superb. Nick Pope had a brilliant game until the last 10 minutes, when the horrendous kicking resurfaced and he leaked two goals, although he had no chance with the first and was left completely unprotected for the second.
As much as Arsenal's players dived all over the pitch and tried to cheat their way to glory, on the balance of play, they probably deserved something out of the game. Maybe not a win, but we'd have taken the 1-1 draw if that's how it had ended.
Newcastle picked up a pretty devastating casualty as Tino Livramento was stretchered off
Just as much of a sucker punch as the winning goal was seeing Tino Livramento stretchered off with what looked to be a knee problem after being clattered by William Saliba. Fingers crossed, it's not as bad as it looked.
It's still very early in the season, so there's no need to panic just yet, and as we mentioned before kick-off, Arsenal will have had their tails up knowing that they could close the gap on Liverpool.
Things are starting to click on the pitch; we can see it coming together. Something big is coming; some poor team is going to be on the receiving end of an absolute pasting very soon. Hopefully it'll be Nottingham Forest next week. In fact, I can almost guarantee it because it will be the first game I've missed in nearly 4 years of doing this as a job, so it's going to be a cracker.
