It was an amazing game at St James’ Park, home to Newcastle United, the team known fondly as the Magpies, last evening. Arsenal were visiting Newcastle to play out a crucial tie on Match Day 6. A day earlier, Liverpool had lost to the Eagles and Arsenal, thus, had a great chance to reduce the gap to the table toppers Liverpool.
Arsenal came out all guns blazing, looking to dominate with some quick moves and intentful application. But Nick Pope, Newcastle’s Goalkeeper was at his sensational best. He single-handedly defied the Gunners. Trossard, Bukayo Saka and Eze had chances to score, but Pope stood firm.
With Arsenal pounding the Newcastle box with amazing frequency, it was a matter of time before they scored. But what happened was completely the opposite. Newcastle’s young German striker Nick Woltemade ( he reminds me of the German great Rudi Voller) headed home against the run of play. The Magpies had taken the lead in the 34th minute.
Arsenal kept on attacking and eventually squared up the match with a fine Merino header in the 84th minute. It was a deserving goal. Arsenal had completely dominated the match and deserved to at least draw the tie, if not win it.
But justice had to be done. Gabriel, in the 96th minute, scored from a terrific header, beating Pope all ends up. The Gunners had 20 shots with 7 on goal, enjoyed 64% of possession and had a staggering 12 corners, and in my opinion, were the better side and deserved to win. The last-minute winner silenced the fans as the Stadium wore a stunned look. A match which was heading towards a victory for Newcastle had turned into an agonising defeat.
Newcastle sat back a bit and allowed Arsenal to dominate. Though the Magpies defended stoically, the pressure was so intense from the belligerent Gunners that, eventually, the resistance crumbled and Arsenal scored two goals in 13 minutes to win the contest.
With the victory, Arsenal moved to second place on the EPL table, just a couple of points behind Liverpool and would be welcoming West Ham next, at home this Saturday. The Magpies would remain at home to play Nottingham Forest on Sunday, in a bid to improve their 15th rank in the EPL.
In the end, a super-happy Arteta and a solemn Howe.
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