Newcastle have had an extremely
difficult start to the season. They’ve already had to play Chelsea,
Manchester City and Tottenham and lost to all three of them. Those three
matches along with their draw against Cardiff City has left them with
one point from their first four matches. Now they face Arsenal. The
Gunners were very poor away from home last season and, while they may
have won, were not convincing in their performance away to Cardiff City.
Arsenal are a talented side, but there is an opportunity for Newcastle
to get a point or maybe even three from this match.
Arsenal are in one of the most important
stretches of their season. Their eight matches between Chelsea away and
Liverpool at home all come against teams outside of the top six. They
need to accumulate as many points as possible in this stretch to have a
real shot at the top four. They’ll have to perform better than they did
against Cardiff to beat a more talented Newcastle side.
Team News
Newcastle will be without Florian
Lejeune as he continues to recover from an ACL injury. On top of that,
Jonjo Shelvey, Matt Ritchie and Javier Manquillo are all doubts,
according to Physioroom.com.
Arsenal will be without Ainsley
Maitland-Niles, Sead Kolasinic, Laurent Koscielny and Carl Jenkinson, as
they all recover from long-term injuries. Lucas Torreira and Alex Iwobi
are also doubts as they deal with a knock to their calf and an illness
respectively, according to Physioroom.com.
Key Players
Newcastle United: Salomon Rondon
Newcastle have taken a very defensive
approach to their matches so far this season. They have the third fewest
shots per game in the league, in part due to their defensive approach
against the top six sides. They may not get many shots against Arsenal,
so they’re going to have to make the ones they do get count. A lot of
that responsibility will fall to striker Rondon. The Arsenal
centre-backs can be taken advantage of, Rondon just needs to finish the
chances they give him.
Arsenal: Mesut Ozil
Arsenal have not had a convincing
performance yet this season and that is at least in part due to their
stars not putting in big performances. Both Ozil and Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang have had slow starts to the season. If Arsenal are going to
do anything this season, those are the two that need to lead them there.
Ozil will need to be his best to help break through the wall Newcastle
will likely build in front of their goals. Arsenal will need him to be
at his best to crack the code to Newcastle’s defence.
Prediction
Newcastle are yet to score multiple
goals in a match in the league this season. They will have that chance
against Arsenal, who have conceded eight goals in four games. This will
likely be a tight game that, if there is a winner, will be decided by a
mistake or a slice of luck.
Newcastle 2 – 2 Arsenal
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