Hungover Arsenal fall to pieces under top-four pressure
WHEN the crucial first goal went in early in the second half, Mikel Arteta simply turned and retreated to his dugout. A season’s work was disappearing down the drain and there was nobody left to blame but himself and his team.
Last Thursday it had apparently all been the referee’s fault as Arsenal flunked it at Tottenham. Not this time. No, this time it was all on those in yellow.
With a season on the line here and with a place in the Champions League up for grabs, Arsenal were simply insipid. If Tottenham do as we would expect and avoid defeat at Norwich on Sunday, it is they who will finish fourth and Arsenal will look back on this night and wonder just how they could possibly play so badly.
Newcastle were the better team by a long, long way. Their first goal was the one that killed Arsenal and came from the boot of visiting defender Ben White after their opponents had coughed up possession with a foul throw. Yes, really.
But there could have been more goals than the one Bruno Guimaraes drove in at the death. Eddie Howe’s team were far too good, far too eager and far too brave for an Arsenal team that looked out of gas, out of courage and out of ideas. This has been a season of progression under Arteta but this was a performance from the bad old days and what a time to produce it.
Last week’s defeat at Tottenham had been numbing for Arsenal and they began here as though they were still struggling to shake it from their system.
Newcastle — playing freely now that relegation has long since disappeared from their vocabulary — looked as though they were the side with everything to play for.
Arsenal were without Rob Holding after his sending off at Spurs and Arteta relegated the other villain of that piece, Cedric Soares, to the bench.
This was a strong Arsenal side, though. It just failed to muster a strong start and Newcastle were on top of them for long spells early on. At the heart of it was midfield trio Sean Longstaff, Joelinton and Guimaraes. They built a platform from which Howe’s team could attack and Arsenal looked rather uncomfortable, nervous even, under the scrutiny.
Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, not usually short of belief, was first to err as a clearance was charged down by Miguel Almiron in the eighth minute. Then Guimaraes delivered a free-kick dangerously across goal after White had clumsily and unnecessarily hauled down Callum Wilson.
For a while Arsenal simply invited pressure. Joelinton was quick to dispossess Takehiro Tomiyasu in the 18th minute and that led to a passage of play on the other side of the field that eventually saw Longstaff draw a low parry from Ramsdale at his near post. Then, when the ball was recycled, Joelinton himself was able to shoot and that one was charged down.
On the touchline Arteta looked concerned and with good reason. His team simply had to slow the pace of the game down if they were to gain a proper foothold.
Over time, Arsenal did find some better rhythm. A period midway through the half saw Bukayo Saka work a nice one-two only to see his shot blocked by Dan Burn. Then, almost immediately, Saka was fed by Martin Odegaard, cut inside and drove in a low shot that Martin Dubravka was able to save.
It was better and more constructive from Arsenal but it didn’t last and the opening half was played out against a background of further Newcastle pressing. The hosts forced eight corners before the break and the threat from them to the Arsenal defence was clear.
But the closest Newcastle came was on the ground when Allan Saint-Maximin took possession on the left touchline, cut inside Tomiyasu and shot low with his right foot towards Ramsdale’s right. The goalkeeper did well enough to turn the effort round the post.
Arsenal needed half-time to try and find a way to change the game but the answers were to be found not in clever tactical switches but in the fundamentals. More running, more energy, more belief.
The truth was that it all looked desperately beyond them. Newcastle lost defender Fabian Schar to a concussion early in the second half but it didn’t interrupt their flow and after a spell of pressure they scored in the 56th minute.
That Arsenal lost possession from a foul throw will not have surprised many who witnessed this performance. Nuno Tavares was the culprit. Then, when the play switched to the left, Joelinton powered down the wing to deliver a cross so dangerous that White could only turn it in to his own net while trying to prevent the ball reaching Wilson. It was not the
defender’s fault. These things happen when you are placed under pressure.
Newcastle were jubilant. This is a season ending in hope for Howe’s team and their player of the season, the forward turned midfielder Joelinton, was once again their standout performer here.
Arsenal now had little more than half an hour to save their season. One goal would not in all likelihood be enough. They needed two. With that in mind, Arteta sent Alexandre Lacazette on to join another attacker, Gabriel Martinelli, who had been introduced a few minutes before the goal.
For a while the flow continued towards the Arsenal goal. Wilson volleyed over while Joelinton was also close. Then Ramsdale came for a corner and dropped it. Suffice to say things were not improving.
With 15 minutes left Arsenal had not created a chance and by then Newcastle had missed another, Wilson clipping a first-time shot over from a Longstaff pull-back. He should have scored.
With five minutes left, another did arrive. Longstaff played Wilson in with a cute chip and when Ramsdale saved, Guimaraes drove in the loose ball.