Valiant Arsenal outmatch Newcastle to keep title race alive

Arsenal showed no signs of relinquishing their Premier League aspirations as Mikel Arteta’s side kept their title hopes alive with an impressive victory away to Newcastle United on Sunday. A wonderful Martin Odegaard strike and a Fabian Schar own goal 20 minutes from time guided the Gunners to a 2-0 win on Tyneside, keeping Arsenal within touching distance of Manchester City at the top of the table.

Arsenal showed no signs of relinquishing their Premier League aspirations as Mikel Arteta’s side kept their title hopes alive with an impressive victory away to Newcastle United on Sunday. A wonderful Martin Odegaard strike and a Fabian Schar own goal 20 minutes from time guided the Gunners to a 2-0 win on Tyneside, keeping Arsenal within touching distance of Manchester City at the top of the table.

The Gunners headed North to Newcastle with fresh memories of their 2-0 capitulation last May that cost them a Champions League spot. However, Mikel Arteta’s side proved how far they have come over the past 12 months, weathering the Newcastle storm to hand the Magpies only their fourth home league defeat under Eddie Howe.

Carrying the momentum of eight wins from their last nine league games, the hosts started brightly in front of their home support, with Jacob Murphy rattling the post inside two minutes. Newcastle even had a penalty decision overturned in the early stages. Referee Chris Kavanagh initially pointed to the spot but changed his decision after being ushered to the pitch side monitor, with replays suggesting that the ball ricocheted off Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior’s knee from a corner.

Having survived the initial onslaught, Arsenal took the lead from their first meaningful attack, with Martin Odegaard scoring his 15th league goal of the season. The Norwegian was offered too much space by the Newcastle defence outside the area, allowing him to complete his trademark finish past Nick Pope into the bottom corner.

The visitors grew in confidence following the opener and found plenty of joy on the counter-attack against the Newcastle high line. Nick Pope was forced into making important interventions to deny Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard in quick succession before snuffing out two one-on-ones against Bukayo Saka and the Norwegian to keep the score at 1-0.

Newcastle got off to another fast start after the break, as Alexander Isak’s header cannoned off the post before Aaron Ramsdale made a vital save moments later from a goal-bound Fabian Schar effort. However, Arsenal retained their threat on the break via the speed of Gabriel Martinelli. The Brazilian curled one onto the crossbar before wrapping up the three points with a low cross that deflected off Schar into the Newcastle net, making it 2-0 to the Gunners.

Arsenal’s victory cuts down Manchester City’s lead at the top of the table to just one point, albeit with their title challengers having a game in hand, giving the Gunners the chance to capitalize on any slip-ups from the Cityzens in their final four matches.