It has been a largely miserable season for the Magpies, who were rocked by the summer departure of Alexander Isak and have barely featured in the top half of the table throughout the campaign. They head into this game in 14th spot after losing eight of their last 11 league games.<\/p>\n
A slow start was followed by a good run of form between November and January when they did peak as high as the fifth spot they ended last season in, but their European excursions have seemed to catch up with them. A run to the Champions League last-16 masked their league form, but after they were dumped out of the competition after a 7-2 thrashing at Barcelona, their hopes of returning to European competition have virtually disappeared.<\/p>\n
A chastening home derby defeat to Sunderland was followed by a poor display against Crystal Palace, throwing away leads in both to add to the 25 points dropped from winning positions this term. Then they were beaten at home by Bournemouth last weekend as rumours swirl around Howe\u2019s future at the club.<\/p>\n
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY<\/h2>\n\n<\/article>\nArteta: <\/strong>“It’s five games to go, four weeks, two big competitions to play in and everything to play for. If someone had told us that at the beginning of the season, we would have taken it, and we are so excited, and tomorrow is game one.<\/p>\n“Every game will be different, so we’ll focus on the priorities and the things that we can do to help the players arrive in the best state possible with the team. Make sure that we have all the players available, which is one of the most important things and a big lesson that we learn from it, and give them confidence, trust and belief that we’re going to do it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Every word from Arteta’s pre-Newcastle presser <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nHowe: <\/strong>“We’re all feeling that pain at the moment. It’s been a difficult period for us. We’ve prided ourselves historically on if we lose, fighting to the end and giving everything to try and get a result. <\/p>\n\u201cI feel the players are currently lacking in a little bit of confidence. There’s only one way to re-find that though and that’s through, in my opinion, hard work, a really good period of training, players staying very stable mentally and seeing it for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
TEAM NEWS<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nBukayo Saka will be in the squad for the game after recovering from an Achilles injury that has kept him out of our last five games, while Riccardo Calafiori could also be back in contention, according to Arteta.<\/p>\n
However Jurrien Timber remains out of action since picking up a groin problem against Everton last month, while Mikel Merino is out with the foot injury he sustained back in January.<\/p>\n
Howe\u2019s selection options have been diminished with Anthony Gordon being ruled out with a hip injury, while Tino Livramento\u2019s season could be over after damaging a hamstring against Bournemouth last weekend. Joelinton is suspended after picking up his 10th yellow card of the season against the Cherries.<\/p>\n
However there is better news that influential captain Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench for his first action since February and has trained all week, but Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth remain out long-term with knee injuries.<\/p>\n
TALKING TACTICS<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nAdrian Clarke, writing in <\/em>the official matchday programme<\/em><\/a>: <\/em>Newcastle’s stock formation is a 4-3-3, built around a trio of hardworking midfielders and wingers with blistering pace, but Howe has also dabbled with a back three on occasion, as well as a 4-2-3-1 by using Nick Woltemade as a No. 10.<\/p>\nCounter-attacks will be a major weapon with the pace of wide men Anthony Elanga, Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy, as well as forward William Osula, and the speed of their attacks ranks joint-third fastest in the division, while no one has produced more open-play crosses.<\/p>\n
Newcastle are also a strong side on set-pieces, netting 14 goals from dead balls, a tally only ourselves and Manchester United can better. Centre-back Malick Thiaw, with four goals, is to be shackled closely at corners.<\/p>\n
However the Magpies have kept just one clean sheet since mid-January, and have shipped at least two goals in eight of their last 11 top-flight outings, so keeping things tight at the back has not been easy. Their away form has also been problematic, claiming just four victories on their travels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Why a 7-0 loss at Newcastle led to our golden era <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/p>\n
FACTS AND STATS<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nFollowing our 2-1 win at St James\u2019 Park in September, we are looking to complete the league double over Newcastle for the first time since 2020\/21.<\/p>\n
We have scored 99 Premier League goals against Newcastle, having already netted 100 against Everton, West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa.<\/p>\n
We haven\u2019t lost three league games in a row since April 2022, which was also the last time we went 1-0 down in three consecutive games.<\/p>\n
Newcastle\u2019s last nine Premier League matches have either been won (3) or lost (6) by exactly one goal. In top-flight history, there have been only three occasions on which a team has had 10+ successive games settled by exactly one goal.<\/p>\n
The Magpies have scored at least once in their last 18 league and cup fixtures, their longest run under Eddie Howe.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice has either scored (1) or assisted (2) three of our last four Premier League goals against Newcastle.<\/p>\n
William Osula has scored in five Premier League matches, but has ended on the losing side in three of them (60%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Can we extend our PL record against Newcastle? <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/p>\n
MATCH OFFICIALS<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nIt\u2019s a swift reunion with Sam Barrott, who took charge of our FA Cup quarter-final trip to Southampton three weeks ago. That was the first time we had failed to win under his watch in nine matches, including victories this season against Brighton, Everton and Sunderland.<\/p>\n
The Yorkshireman has overseen six Newcastle games in his career, and three of them have come this season, winning and losing against Manchester City and drawing against Wolves. His one red card is the fewest among referees with 20+ top-flight matches this season, but he has awarded six penalties.<\/p>\n
Referee: <\/strong>Sam Barrett
Assistants: <\/strong>Tim Wood, Wade Smith
Fourth official: <\/strong>Steve Martin
OUR: <\/strong>Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: <\/strong>Adrian Holmes<\/p>\nRECENT VISITS FROM NEWCASTLE<\/h2>\n\n<\/article>\nTraditionally, our home hasn\u2019t been a happy hunting ground for the Black and Whites since we moved in in 2006, as they have won just twice on 21 visits, and lost 12 of the last 13 league trips.<\/p>\n
Last season\u2019s game was settled by a Declan Rice strike almost 12 months ago, while the previous January saw the Magpies claim a 2-0 win in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, marking their first win at our home since 2010.<\/p>\n
The previous campaign saw us record a fine 4-0 success when a Sven Botman own goal was followed by strikes from Kai Havertz, Saka and Jakub Kiwior before former Willock netted a late consolation – the only goal Newcastle have scored in nine league trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Relive 6 memorable home wins against Newcastle <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/p>\n
LIVE COVERAGE<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nTune into Live From N5 on Arsenal.com and The Arsenal app <\/strong>(download now on <\/em>iOS<\/em><\/a>\/<\/em>Android<\/em><\/a>)<\/em> an hour before kick-off to help you build up for the game in the best possible way.<\/p>\nNicole Holliday and Jeremie Aliadiere will be joined in the studio by social media star ChefReactions, DJ Joel Corry, actress Ruby Stokes and producer\/songwriter Mr Cutts, while there is a chance to see some of our exclusive live content from the Sobha Realty Training Centre, as well as our latest documentary starring Charlie George – King of Highbury.<\/p>\n
A new Hero of the Week will be crowned, while candidates for the Live from N5 Hall of Fame will be put to a vote, and after another round of Arsenal Mastermind with our supporters in the studio, live commentary comes from Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke.<\/p>\n
You can also find out <\/em>which broadcasters are showing the action live<\/em>wherever you are in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n How to watch Arsenal v Newcastle United on TV <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\nCopyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We could return to the top of the Premier League when Newcastle United visit Emirates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Arteta: <\/strong>“It’s five games to go, four weeks, two big competitions to play in and everything to play for. If someone had told us that at the beginning of the season, we would have taken it, and we are so excited, and tomorrow is game one.<\/p>\n “Every game will be different, so we’ll focus on the priorities and the things that we can do to help the players arrive in the best state possible with the team. Make sure that we have all the players available, which is one of the most important things and a big lesson that we learn from it, and give them confidence, trust and belief that we’re going to do it.”<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Howe: <\/strong>“We’re all feeling that pain at the moment. It’s been a difficult period for us. We’ve prided ourselves historically on if we lose, fighting to the end and giving everything to try and get a result. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel the players are currently lacking in a little bit of confidence. There’s only one way to re-find that though and that’s through, in my opinion, hard work, a really good period of training, players staying very stable mentally and seeing it for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Bukayo Saka will be in the squad for the game after recovering from an Achilles injury that has kept him out of our last five games, while Riccardo Calafiori could also be back in contention, according to Arteta.<\/p>\n However Jurrien Timber remains out of action since picking up a groin problem against Everton last month, while Mikel Merino is out with the foot injury he sustained back in January.<\/p>\n Howe\u2019s selection options have been diminished with Anthony Gordon being ruled out with a hip injury, while Tino Livramento\u2019s season could be over after damaging a hamstring against Bournemouth last weekend. Joelinton is suspended after picking up his 10th yellow card of the season against the Cherries.<\/p>\n However there is better news that influential captain Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench for his first action since February and has trained all week, but Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth remain out long-term with knee injuries.<\/p>\n Adrian Clarke, writing in <\/em>the official matchday programme<\/em><\/a>: <\/em>Newcastle’s stock formation is a 4-3-3, built around a trio of hardworking midfielders and wingers with blistering pace, but Howe has also dabbled with a back three on occasion, as well as a 4-2-3-1 by using Nick Woltemade as a No. 10.<\/p>\n Counter-attacks will be a major weapon with the pace of wide men Anthony Elanga, Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy, as well as forward William Osula, and the speed of their attacks ranks joint-third fastest in the division, while no one has produced more open-play crosses.<\/p>\n Newcastle are also a strong side on set-pieces, netting 14 goals from dead balls, a tally only ourselves and Manchester United can better. Centre-back Malick Thiaw, with four goals, is to be shackled closely at corners.<\/p>\n However the Magpies have kept just one clean sheet since mid-January, and have shipped at least two goals in eight of their last 11 top-flight outings, so keeping things tight at the back has not been easy. Their away form has also been problematic, claiming just four victories on their travels.<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Following our 2-1 win at St James\u2019 Park in September, we are looking to complete the league double over Newcastle for the first time since 2020\/21.<\/p>\n We have scored 99 Premier League goals against Newcastle, having already netted 100 against Everton, West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa.<\/p>\n We haven\u2019t lost three league games in a row since April 2022, which was also the last time we went 1-0 down in three consecutive games.<\/p>\n Newcastle\u2019s last nine Premier League matches have either been won (3) or lost (6) by exactly one goal. In top-flight history, there have been only three occasions on which a team has had 10+ successive games settled by exactly one goal.<\/p>\n The Magpies have scored at least once in their last 18 league and cup fixtures, their longest run under Eddie Howe.<\/p>\n Declan Rice has either scored (1) or assisted (2) three of our last four Premier League goals against Newcastle.<\/p>\n William Osula has scored in five Premier League matches, but has ended on the losing side in three of them (60%).<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s a swift reunion with Sam Barrott, who took charge of our FA Cup quarter-final trip to Southampton three weeks ago. That was the first time we had failed to win under his watch in nine matches, including victories this season against Brighton, Everton and Sunderland.<\/p>\n The Yorkshireman has overseen six Newcastle games in his career, and three of them have come this season, winning and losing against Manchester City and drawing against Wolves. His one red card is the fewest among referees with 20+ top-flight matches this season, but he has awarded six penalties.<\/p>\n Referee: <\/strong>Sam Barrett Traditionally, our home hasn\u2019t been a happy hunting ground for the Black and Whites since we moved in in 2006, as they have won just twice on 21 visits, and lost 12 of the last 13 league trips.<\/p>\n Last season\u2019s game was settled by a Declan Rice strike almost 12 months ago, while the previous January saw the Magpies claim a 2-0 win in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, marking their first win at our home since 2010.<\/p>\n The previous campaign saw us record a fine 4-0 success when a Sven Botman own goal was followed by strikes from Kai Havertz, Saka and Jakub Kiwior before former Willock netted a late consolation – the only goal Newcastle have scored in nine league trips.<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tune into Live From N5 on Arsenal.com and The Arsenal app <\/strong>(download now on <\/em>iOS<\/em><\/a>\/<\/em>Android<\/em><\/a>)<\/em> an hour before kick-off to help you build up for the game in the best possible way.<\/p>\n Nicole Holliday and Jeremie Aliadiere will be joined in the studio by social media star ChefReactions, DJ Joel Corry, actress Ruby Stokes and producer\/songwriter Mr Cutts, while there is a chance to see some of our exclusive live content from the Sobha Realty Training Centre, as well as our latest documentary starring Charlie George – King of Highbury.<\/p>\n A new Hero of the Week will be crowned, while candidates for the Live from N5 Hall of Fame will be put to a vote, and after another round of Arsenal Mastermind with our supporters in the studio, live commentary comes from Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke.<\/p>\n You can also find out <\/em>which broadcasters are showing the action live<\/em>wherever you are in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We could return to the top of the Premier League when Newcastle United visit Emirates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Every word from Arteta’s pre-Newcastle presser <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nTEAM NEWS<\/h2>\n
TALKING TACTICS<\/h2>\n
Why a 7-0 loss at Newcastle led to our golden era <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nFACTS AND STATS<\/h2>\n
Can we extend our PL record against Newcastle? <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nMATCH OFFICIALS<\/h2>\n
Assistants: <\/strong>Tim Wood, Wade Smith
Fourth official: <\/strong>Steve Martin
OUR: <\/strong>Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: <\/strong>Adrian Holmes<\/p>\nRECENT VISITS FROM NEWCASTLE<\/h2>\n
Relive 6 memorable home wins against Newcastle <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nLIVE COVERAGE<\/h2>\n
How to watch Arsenal v Newcastle United on TV <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n