Arsenal had managed to remain unbeaten in the Premier League within the first 10 games of the 2023/24 season, with 7 wins and 3 draws, the longest unbeaten start for The Gunners in 16 years. However, that record was undone on Tyneside as Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0 in a game full of controversy.
Mikel Arteta was still without key players Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey, however matters were made worse by the absence of club captain Martin Odegaard who was deemed not fit enough to make the matchday squad. Eddie Nketiah kept his place upfront and Kai Havertz and Jorginho made up the Arsenal midfield alongside Declan Rice. Takehiro Tomiyasu started at left-back ahead of Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Arsenal started well, controlling the possession and managing to quiet down the St. James Park crowd by limiting the Newcastle forward line to very little chances with some excellent defending. However the Gunners were somewhat struggling in the final third with the forward line failing to properly test Nick Pope for hte majority of the first half. The match went about in a tense fashion, that was until Kai Havertz flew into a late challenge on a Newcastle man which infuriated the Newcastle players and fans who called for a red card for the German but a yellow was shown instead as the challenge was late but not particularly dangerous. And not too soon after there was another strong red card shout as an incident off the ball between Bruno Guimaraes and stand-in Arsenal captain Jorginho showed the Newcastle man clearly elbowed the Italian in the side of the head, however somehow the Brazilian was not punished and the half-time whistle went with the score at 0-0 and both teams with eleven men on the pitch.
The second half started with the same tense action as both teams struggled to create down to the impressive defending from both sides. However, the deadlock was broken an hour into the action as Joe Willock crossed the ball to Joelinton, the ball falling in the path of Antony Gordon who had the simple task of tapping home into an empty net from close range. But in rather bizarre circumstances, the goal was eventually allowed after a VAR check despite strong suspicions of both a foul against Gabriel and an offside against Gordon. However the goal was given by the officials, a decision Mikel Arteta would later call ’embarrassing’ and ‘a disgrace’ in his post-match press conference.
In response to going behind, Arteta turned to his substitutes, calling on Leandro Trossard, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabio Vieria. Unfortuantly, the changes did little to help Arsenal create and some determined Newcastle defending saw them over the line and condemned Arsenal to their first Premier League defeat of the season.
Mikel Arteta will be hoping his side can bounce back from back-to-back defeats as they return to Champions League action at Emirates Stadium as Sevilla make the trip to North London.
Player Ratings:
David Raya: 6 – Had no saves to make but did well claiming crosses and his distribution was good
Ben White: 6 – Somewhat sloppy in possession but solid defensively
William Saliba: 8 – Superbly composed
Gabriel: 7 – Solid all afternnon keeping Wilson quiet
Takehiro Tomiyasu: 6 – Nothing more than ok
Jorginho: 7 – Wore the armband and kept things moving nicely
Kai Havertz: 7 – His best game in an Arsenal shirt. Starting to look more confident on the ball
Declan Rice: 8 – Just brilliant again
Bukayo Saka: 6 -Odd game from Saka. Reluctunt to take on his man and didn’t have any chances in front of goal
Eddie Nketiah: 5 – Worked hard but just didn’t get into the game much
Gabriel Martinelli: 6 – Similar to Saka, was ok but not at his best