Arsenal vs. Newcastle United

February 24, 2024

Arsenal will take on Newcastle United at the Emirates this weekend after their midweek trip to Portugal.

Saturday's clash between the sides sees a rematch of the feisty 1-0 victory for Newcastle United back in November, when Joe Willock's involvement in Anthony Gordon's winner sent the Arsenal boss into a frenzy during his post-match press conference after claims the ball had slipped out of play.

Thus, The Magpies are bidding to claim their first league double over Arsenal since 1994-95.

However, they are winless across their last 12 visits to the Emirates (losing 11 of them), even failing to score in each of the last eight across all competitions since a 4-1 loss in December 2014.

Arsenal Betting Preview (-286 at Everygame)

Out to make it six league wins in a row at the start of 2024, Mikel Arteta's side welcome Newcastle to their Emirates headquarters in Saturday's late kick-off.

Victories over Crystal Palace (5-0), Nottingham Forest (2-1), Liverpool (3-1), West Ham United (6-0) and Burnley (5-0) have seen Arsenal starting the calendar year with five straight league wins for the first time ever.

However, The Gunners suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Portuguese giants Porto in Wednesday's Champions League last-16 first leg. Mikel Arteta's men were well and truly brought back down to earth by a sickening 94^th minute strike from Galeno.

The Arsenal boss bemoaned his side’s lack of “threat” going forward overall, as the North London outfit failed to register a single shot on target. Some might say it was about time after seeing his side rattle in 21 goals in their first five top-flight games of this calendar year - an all-time competition record.

Still chasing their first Premier League title in two decades and with a second leg against Porto to come next month, another slip-up on Saturday as Newcastle United come to town simply isn’t an option with The Gunners trailing leaders Liverpool by five points, even though they also have a game in hand.

Jurrien Timber remains a long-term absentee for Arsenal as fellow full-backs Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko join him on the sidelines, while Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus are both doubts.

Arteta has provided an injury update on Gabriel Jesus ahead of Saturday's clash with Newcastle. The Brazil forward has missed the last four matches with a fresh injury setback and it is currently unknown when he will be ready to return.

With that said, it is very likely Mikel Arteta will be choosing his starting line-up from the same group of players that were available to face FC Porto in midweek. Fabio Vieira was back in the matchday squad for that Champions League tie.

Newcastle United Betting Preview (+700 at Everygame)

While Eddie Howe's side drew 2-2 with Bournemouth at St. James' Park last weekend, Sporting Director Dan Ashworth confirmed his desire to leave and take a role at Manchester United earlier this week.

It is fair to say that the ongoing campaign hasn’t quite been the one that The Toon Army were hoping for after a remarkable last season. Already eliminated from the Champions League group stage and European football altogether, Newcastle sit eighth pre-round and a whopping 12 points off the top-four.

They are now unbeaten in five games, though, since a dramatic 3-2 home loss to reigning champions Manchester City in mid-January. This includes two wins and two draws in the Premier League as well as the 2-0 victory at Fulham in the FA Cup (last month), where Newcastle will travel to face Blackburn Rovers next week.

First-choice goalkeeper Nick Pope as well as the likes of Matt Targett, Elliot Anderson, Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Callum Wilson are all ruled out for Newcastle, but Eddie Howe was handed a triple injury boost ahead of the trip to North London.

The Newcastle manager hopes to have Fabian Schar, Joe Willock and Alexander Isak available to him for the tough trip to the Emirates Stadium this weekend. While the other two have recovered from injuries, Schar left the field with an arm injury against Bournemouth but the experienced Switzerland defender has trained after shaking off the problem.

Isak will be in the matchday squad for the first time since the 3-1 victory at Aston Villa on 30 January, when he left the pitch with a groin injury, while Willock is back from an achilles injury sustained in November.

If the Swedish forward - Alexander Isak - is not fully fit to start, Anthony Gordon is once again tipped to spearhead the attack, flanked by Harvey Barnes and Miguel Almiron.

Possible Starting Lineups of Arsenal and Newcastle United

Arsenal: David Raya - Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Jakub Kiwior - Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz - Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli. (4-3-3)

Newcastle United: Martin Dúbravka - Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Fabian Schar, Kieran Trippier - Lewis Miley, Bruno Guimaraes, Sean Longstaff - Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almirón. (4-3-3)

Spooky Express Betting Prediction

Victory for Newcastle here would inflict a huge blow to Arsenal's title hopes. However, The Magpies are yet to win at the Emirates in the post-Wenger era - since a 1-0 victory in November 2010.

Moreover, Eddie Howe’s side have only won three times away from home in the Premier League this season, but two of them were in their last two visits to Aston Villa (3-1) and Nottingham Forest (3-2). Howe stated: We will need to replicate close to our best performance to get something from the game."

Arsenal, on the other hand, have only lost once at the Emirates in the Premier League this season, to London rivals West Ham United on 28 December. We expect Arsenal to earn a hard-earned win to remain on Liverpool's coat-tails.

Spooky Express Free Play: Outcome And Both To Score - Arsenal and Yes +170 at Everygame for 5/10 Units

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