Newcastle vs Arsenal: Two teams looking to improve at St. James’ Park
Both teams looking to hit top gear
It’s certainly not been a disastrous start to the campaign for the Gunners, who this season are looking to move beyond the nearly men. Unfortunately, although they’ve been far from poor, they’ve not exactly started the season like a team destined for glory.
Mikel Arteta’s naturally picked up routine wins against Leeds and Nottingham Forest, both of whom struggled to land significant blows at Emirates Stadium, but against the big boys, they’ve not packed a punch. Sure, they pulled a late leveller out of the fire against Man City last weekend, but for much of that contest, they looked like a team lacking in ideas, while they never looked like hurting Liverpool at Anfield last month.
For the Geordies, the season is also yet to catch fire, with Eddie Howe’s men getting off to a slow start, tying 0-0 with Aston Villa during the opening weekend, before losing to Liverpool on home soil. Against the champions, despite being reduced to ten men in the first half, they did show a tremendous amount of fight, but that spirited effort did not act as a springboard for success against Leeds next time out.
A tepid 0-0 tie at Elland Road was followed by a low-key win over Wolves, before Howe’s men were involved in a third scoreless stalemate of the season against Bournemouth last time out. Clearly, this is not a team that is too easy to breach, but offensively, things need to improve, that’s for sure.
Magpies know how to take Arsenal’s shine
When the teams last met, back in May of this year, Arsenal won by a goal to zero in front of a home crowd, though they’ve been anything but regular winners in recent years. In fact, the Magpies have defeated the Gunners in three of the last four renewals of this fixture.
In front of what is always a buoyant crowd at St. James’ Park, the Geordies have a brilliant recent record against Arsenal, as shown below.
Newcastle’s recent home record against Arsenal:
2025: Newcastle 2 - 0 Arsenal
2024: Newcastle 1 - 0 Arsenal
2023: Newcastle 1 - 0 Arsenal
2023: Newcastle 0 - 2 Arsenal
2022: Newcastle 2 - 0 Arsenal
As we can see, Sunday’s hosts have won four of their last five home games against Arsenal, shutting out the North Londoners in four of those five. Such a record does not favor the team looking to bridge the gap between themselves and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
Sunday’s dangermen
There will be several players on the St. James’ Park field who can make a difference on Sunday, though I’m focusing on the following two.
Jacob Murphy
Jacob Murphy may not be the first Newcastle player that springs to mind when thinking about serious difference makers, especially after Eddie Howe brought in German forward Nick Woltemade, but Murphy is an incredibly reliable performer, one who continues to deliver impressive final-third performances.
I really won’t be surprised if the 30-year-old plays a leading role for the Magpies on Sunday afternoon. After all, Murphy is currently the best Newcastle player, of those to have played regularly at the start of this season, in terms of shots per 90 minutes, averaging a chunky 3.62, so he is clearly hungry.
Moreover, none of the regular starters at the beginning of this season have contributed more expected goals and expected assisted goals than Murphy, who in that respect averages a chunky 0.49 per 90 minutes.
Eberechi Eze
It was Gabriel Martinelli who scored Arsenal late leveller against the Citizens last weekend, and a fine finish it was from the Brazilian, but that goal all came from the craft of Eberech Eze, whose superbly weighted pass picked the lock. If the visitors are to trouble a rather sturdy Newcastle defense, then Ebrechi Eze will hold the key.
Eze, who currently averages 0.52 expected goals and expected assisted goals per 90, hasn’t quite stepped on the gas since joining Arsenal, but he should start here, and if he does, he’ll help the Gunners to increase their offensive threat considerably.
