Newcastle United (0) 1 Arsenal (0) 0
Premier League
St, James’ Park, Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4ST
Saturday, 4th November 2023. Kick-off time: 5.30pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Takehiro Tomiyasu; Declan Rice, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho (c), Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, Leandro Trossard, Fábio Vieira, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein, Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Yellow Cards: Kai Havertz
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 60%
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistant Referees: Richard West, James Mainwaring
Fourth Official: Graham Scott
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Andy Madley; AVAR Stuart Burt
Attendance: 52,194
For this important clash against the Novocastrians today, not only are we already without Thomas Partey due to a muscle injury suffered shortly after he returned from his groin problem, but we have also lost Emile Smith-Rowe due to a knee injury which he sustained in the match against Sheffield United last Saturday. However, our captain Martin Ødegaard is not fit enough to return to the starting eleven (nor the substitutes bench either) this afternoon.
As this is Newcastle United’s last Premier League home match before Remembrance Sunday, after a short period of silence to remember the fallen servicemen and women of our country in all military conflicts, the match started with our boys kicking off this much awaited game late this afternoon in this fever pitch atmosphere at St. James’ Park. The match started with both teams rather gingerly trying each other out before trying to find a chink in someone’s armour somewhere, despite the home side being quicker out of the blocks to no avail whatsoever. However, the home side have sensed a weakness down our left side, courtesy of Miguel Almiron but our intrepid full-back Takehiro Tomiyasu was alert to such malarkey. Strong tackles and crisp passing appear to be the order of the day so early in the match, with both sides scrambling to hit balls that will get to their strikers, but the defenders are staying firm. We won the game’s first corner after about ten minuites, but the ball was cleared by the Newcastle defenders, and we then had a free-kick awarded to us when Miguel Almiron fouled Gabriel right in front of the referee. We are putting the home side under pressure, and have won two corners in a row, but unfortunately the subsequent attempts on goal have gone away and into the blue, high into the stands of the Gallowgate End; interestingly enough, Declan Rice complained to the referee that he was fouled inside the penalty area just before the last corner kick, but Stuart Attwell merely waved him away. We are far and away the best side on the day out there so far, with our players closing down Newcastle men successfully, and creating chances and winning corners, which can surely lead to bigger chances soon. Declan Rice is covering a lot of ground, and as such is a total inspiration to his teammates. Dan Burn appeared to be fired up in the wrong way tonight, and has to be careful in his tackling; Bukayo Saka has been upended a couple of times and needs the referee’s protection. Will he get it? Our defenders are playing excellently as a unit, successfully blocking out the home side’s strikers, who are getting more and more frustrated with us. The ground exploded when Kai Havertz tackled Sean Longstaff who ended up in a heap near the touchline, for which our man received a yellow card (even after a VAR review), somewhat unjustly, one feels. As we approach half time, the atmosphere in the ground is more electric than ever, but our boys are holding their nerve and sticking to the gameplan. David Raya collected the ball well after Anthony Gordon lost control of it in just in front of our goal, and in the four minutes injury time at the end of the first half, we continued the pressure with Gabriel Martinelli having a decent attempt on goal that was saved by the goalie. Bruno Guimarães has completely lost his head with a disgusting whack from his elbow to the back of Jorginho’s head, and tensions were further inflamed when he aggressively confronted Declan Rice just before the half time break. Let’s see what the second half brings!
The home side kicked off the second half, and almost immediately we nearly scored when a shot which came off Gabriel Martinelli’s shin via a clearance by Tino Livramento and for the next ten minutes or so, the home side were on the ascendancy. Shortly afterwards, referee Stuart Attwell had a word with both Gabriel and Callum Wilson after some words were exchanged in the heat of the moment, and a few minutes later, we had a great chance to score when Gabriel Martinelli’s cross floated over to the back post that was headed away, but it went into the direction of Declan Rice, who headed the ball wide. On the hour, Bruno Guimarães barged into Jorginho again, and then angrily raised his hands to urge our man to get up; if he carries on like this, he will be fortunate to be remaining on the pitch! Four minutes later, Anthony Gordon scored the opening goal of the match, but there is a massive question to the VAR team about it, because basically there were a couple of pushes, then the ball looked like it may have gone out of play from Jacob Murphy’s initial shot, then the strong challenge into the back of Ben White from Joelinton almost on the goal line, all contributes to the fact that this goal should not stand. But stand it did, and nobody can understand why at this point in time; but it is obvious that as the VAR team in Stockley Park are conerned, the ball never went out of play, Joelinton did not commit a foul and Anthony Gordon was not offside. Ridiculous. We tried immediately to serve up a quick response as we won a couple of corners, but the last corner was sent to the near post, where it hit one of our men and spun off and went behind the line for a goal kick. The match was flying from end to end and with eight minutes of the game remaining, Fábio Vieira and Leandro Trossard replaced Jorginho and Eddie Nketiah in order to try and grab the equalising goal. The home side were defending deep whilst we are throwing everything including the kitchen sink at them, and then at last Bruno Guimarães was booked for an appalling foul on Fábio Vieira; he was very lucky to be still on the pitch after his antics earlier in the game against Jorginho. Eight minutes injury time was awarded, and after Tino Livramento hacked down Gabriel Martinelli (for which he was rightly booked), we were awarded a free kick, and the Fábio Vieira cross that flew into the Newcastle penalty area was headed away by their defenders. Minutes later the whistle blew and we were unjustly the losers here at St. James’ Park tonight.
Unfortunately, this was the first time we failed to score in all competitions this season (this being our seventeenth match), and with fourteen shots on the Newcastle goal (and only one on target), we need to do better in the striking department. Having said that, our efforts deserved something out of this match tonight, and there were some extremely unsavoury incidents out there tonight; how the home team managed to keep eleven players on the pitch was nothing short of a miracle. Unjust is not the word here. We are now third in the Premiership, only three points behind leaders Manchester City and two points behind second placed Tottenham Hotspur, who play on Monday evening against Chelsea. We have a bad few days overall, and we desperately need to get back to winning ways again in our Champions League game on Wednesday night. All to play for now, chaps.
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Sevilla at the Emirates on Wednesday, 8th November at 8.00pm (Champions League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 