The 2-0 loss that Arsenal suffered to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Monday was a significant setback for the team’s ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League.
After an own goal from Ben White and a late goal from January acquisition Bruno Guimaraes, Newcastle secured the victory and moved into fourth place in the rankings, two points behind Tottenham Hotspur with one game left in the season. Arsenal are now tied for sixth place in the standings.
Spurs will just need a point to qualify for Europe’s premier tournament on Sunday when they go to already-relegated bottom side Norwich City. This is because Spurs have a better goal difference than Norwich City. At the same time, Mikel Arteta’s current club, Arsenal, will play host to Everton, Arteta’s previous team.
In the last game played at St. James’ Park, Newcastle’s supporters gave the team a boost that helped them get off to a strong start. The team coached by Eddie Howe was in the bottom three in the league at Christmas time; but, as a result of their new owners’ investing in the transfer window in January, they have moved up the table and have only lost once at home in the league in 2022.
Allan Saint-Maximin, who had cut in from the wing and jinked his way to the edge of the box after cutting in from the other flank, came close to opening the score in the 37th minute, but goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was able to paw away his low effort. They were the team who controlled the encounter.
However, the breakthrough occurred just after the halftime whistle when Joelinton raced down the left flank and fired in a low cross for striker Callum Wilson. However, the pass was deflected off of Arsenal defender White and into his own goal, providing the breakthrough.
The home team had several opportunities to extend their advantage, and it wasn’t until the 85th minute that they finally did so. Wilson was clean through on goal, but Ramsdale’s clearance deflected the ball into the path of Guimareas, who finished the play with a side-footed shot.
Howe’s team has moved up to 12th place in the rankings as a result of the victory, which was Newcastle’s first in the league versus Arsenal since April of 2018.
The manager of Arsenal, Arteta, said that his team had performed poorly and deserved to lose.
“We were not quite as good as Newcastle, and they well deserved to win the match. Nothing was going our way throughout the game. They were considerably superior than us in every aspect of the game, and we were terrible with the ball,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports.
“During the course of the game, a number of things took place, such as players being replaced due to injury; nonetheless, this is not an excuse since they were much better than us.
It is a fact that we were unable to keep up with the game that we were required to play here. We made certain adjustments in hopes that it would improve the situation, but it did not. There were times when it seemed like we were playing better, but our execution was so bad, and the goals that we gave up were incredibly horrible.
