Second-half goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli ensured that Eddie Howe left his first game in the dugout as Newcastle manager under no illusions about the size of his task after a 2-0 defeat.
Howe was technically in charge for the 3-3 draw with Brentford but having tested positive for Covid-19, was forced to stay away, making the Emirates his first in-person game as Magpies boss.
And while he might have been glad to make it through the first half unscathed against an Arsenal side unbeaten at home since August, even with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hitting the post when it was easier to score from three yards out, he could not rely on such good fortune in the second.
Bukayo Saka had almost opened the scoring before the break when Albert Lokonga picked him out at the back post but it was 11 minutes after the break that he did indeed get his goal.
The England international provided an injection of pace to his pass to Emile Smith Rowe, who knocked it into the feet of Nuno Tavares, who in turn was able to quick sweep the ball on for Saka who had made the run in behind – and he duly smashed it across and past Martin Dubravka.
Concerningly for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal fans, it was effectively Saka’s last contribution. He went down clutching what appeared to be his hip just three minutes later, and while he tried to play on, he was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli just after the hour mark.
It proved a prescient introduction, as the Brazilian scored with just his second touch, opting to side-foot the chipped ball from Takehiro Tomiyasu rather than try to bring it down, doubling Arsenal’s lead and making the points safe.
Arsenal
Aaron Ramsdale – 7
Nuno Tavares – 7.5
Gabriel Magalhaes – 6
Ben White – 7
Takehiro Tomiyasu – 8
Emile Smith Rowe – 8
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 7.5
Thomas Partey – 6.5
Bukayo Saka – 8
Martin Odegaard – 6
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 5
Substitutes
Gabriel Martinelli – 8
Alexandre Lacazette – 6.5
Mohamed Elneny – n/a
Newcastle
Martin Dubravka – 7
Jamaal Lascelles – 6.5
Fabian Schar – 6.5
Emil Krafth – 5.5
Matt Ritchie – 5.5
Jonjo Shelvey – 7.5
Joe Willock – 6
Ryan Fraser – 6
Allan Saint-Maximin – 6.5
Callum Wilson – 6
Joelinton – 6
Substitutes
Miguel Almiron – 6.5
Jacob Murphy – 6
Isaac Hayden – 6
Saka injury update
Arsenal now face an anxious wait to clarify the extent of Saka’s injury.
Arteta could only confirm he was “uncomfortable to continue” before being replaced. “We will have to probably scan him tomorrow and see if there’s any injury there,” he added.
Saka was out for a short period in pre-season with a dead leg, but what is more concerning is that it’s not the first time he has suffered from a hip problem, missing a short period in January.
Howe bemoans penalty incident
Shortly before Martinelli’s strike, Callum Wilson went down in the box under pressure from Nuno Tavares. Former Premier League referee Peter Walton told BT Sport it was a “fair shoulder barge” and suggested Wilson was “probably off balance so he went down quite easily”.
Howe, whose side could well be dependent on the finest of margins in their survival battle, insisted in his post-match interview that “it looked like a penalty”.
“I can’t speak on behalf of the players [if they were distracted by the appeal], but to me it looked like a penalty but I need to see it again and see why it wasn’t given,” he said. “But it wasn’t and we need to defend it better, and that second goal was a killer blow at that stage of the game.
“We started brightly but I don’t think we were our best with the ball today, there were a lot of counter attacking opportunities for us to deliver better especially with the players we have in the team.
“There was always going to be a lot of work to do regardless of the result today, this was a big task ahead of us it’s got slightly bigger today but I saw positive signs.”
Saka’s spark inspires Arsenal
Had Jonjo Shelvey managed to open the scoring with a long-range strike that Aaron Ramsdale tipped onto the bar, it would not have been a just reflection of either Newcastle’s reserved approach or the Gunners’ dominance.
Even with such limited time with his players, however, it became clear that Howe has already had some impact in organising what is statistically the Premier League’s leakiest defence.
It was a question of when, not if, they would eventually be broken down and it was an imaginative shift from Saka from the right side to the left that saw him team up with Emile Smith Rowe before darting in behind the defence and receiving the ball from Nuno Tavares.
“We had to be patient, they defended really well and they made it difficult for us in the first half,” he said on BT Sport. “They made it difficult for us, the boss told us at half-time don’t let them frustrate us. And I think we listened to that and we got the goals and could have got more in the end.
“It was a great passing move, I came over to the left and created a few passes and then made a run and found myself in, and just went for goal and scored.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3EeaUKF
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