A big opportunity missed at the Emirates as wasted chances were punished on a day where Champions League football was there to be secured.
In the end, this game followed a similar pattern, albeit it with a very different result. to last Sunday’s game against Chelsea. In both games, we were superb in the first half before falling off a cliff in the final 45, only this time we were punished for missed chances in the first and sloppiness in the second.
The situation is now clear. We can’t finish second, but a top-five finish is still in our hands. Beat Everton at St James’ Park next Sunday and we’ve done it.
After our defeat at Arsenal came after wins for Aston Villa, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest over the weekend, we head into the final weekend like this (Man City still have Bournemouth to play in their game in hand on Tuesday).
1. **Liverpool** – 83pts (+46 GD) – Brighton (A), Palace (H)
2. **Arsenal** – 71pts (+34 GD) – Southampton (A)
3. **Newcastle** – 66pts (+22 GD) – Everton (H)
4. **Chelsea** – 66pts (+20 GD) – Forest (A)
5. **Aston Villa** – 66pts (+9 GD) – Man Utd (A)
6. **Man City** – 65pts (+24 GD)- Bournemouth (H), Fulham (A)
7. **Nottingham Forest** – 65pts (+13 GD) – Chelsea (H)
Howe made one change and it wasn’t the one many were expecting. Sven Botman surprised a few by maintaining his place in the starting 11 despite knee concerns this week, with Alexander Isak the one to miss out instead after ‘stiffness’ in his groin saw him sit this one out despite travelling down to London.
That saw Callum Wilson come in for his first league start since a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool in February and in search of his first league goal of 2024/25 on the penultimate weekend.
**Newcastle XI:** Pope; Schar, Burn, Botman; Murphy, Tonali, Guimaraes, Livramento; Barnes, Wilson, Gordon **Subs:** Dubravka, Lascelles, Longstaff, Neave, Willock, Krafth, Osula, Miley, Ruddy.
The game started at quite a pace and despite Arsenal looking in the mood early on, it was us who created two big early chances. The first saw a huge opportunity fall to Bruno from Tonali’s fired pass and Wilson’s lay-off, but the Brazilian’s shot was a little weak, albeit well saved from Raya, who then reacted quickly again to beat Barnes to the loose ball.
The second opportunity came from a superb break, as Gordon and Livramento link up brilliantly down the left before Tino’s effort was hit too close to Raya.
Pope then stepped up with a vital stop at the other end, making himself big to palm away Partey’s goal-bound header from Saka’s dangerous corner. An instinctive stop, yet it was Raya at the other end who continued to be the busier man. First the Spaniard did superbly to get a finger tip on Barnes’ deflected effort from his positive driving run, then it was Burn to go close as his header was parried instinctively by Rafa, who reacted again to stop Botman scrambling in the rebound.
Positive signs that we were causing havoc and creating chances, but between Bruno, Tino, Barnes and Burn you wondered how one didn’t find a way in as we approached a frantic first 25 minutes at 0-0.
Arsenal then had a period of pressure without ever testing Pope, as we survived a flurry of corners and went close again before Botman stepped out of defence an almost put Livramento clean through, only for the marauding wing-back to be held up as another promising attack ultimately came to nothing.
We hadn’t dominated possession, but we looked the more dangerous side for much of the first 45, with Gordon and Tino’s pace too much for White, Odegaard and Partey down Arsenal’s right, Bruno and Tonali dominating the midfield battle and the dual threat of Murphy and Barnes giving Lewis-Skelly problems down the other flank.
To this point it was a superb performance, giving us plenty of encouragement as we went into a second half attacking the Newcastle end. But, given the chances wasted and Raya’s five saves, Arsenal may have just been the happier team heading into the break.
We had to maintain those standards that saw us outplay Arsenal in that first 45 and we were surprisingly slack in the opening stages of the second as Arsenal pinned us back. They looked the brighter of the two sides and we gave them encouragement, sitting off them and becoming sloppy in our passing on the rare occasion we looked to break.
Pressure was building and the breakthrough came from Rice. Gordon lost the ball in a poor area thanks to an awful touch towards his own goal and Rice punished us, wrapping his foot around Odegaard’s cut-back to curl into the far corner from range. A superb strike, but an avoidable goal to concede and that moment of quality we’d been lacking in the final third.
That win to make sure of a top-five finish suddenly looked tough to achieve today, but Howe wasted no time in making changes, bringing on Osula, Miley and Krafth for Wilson, Murphy in Botman in a triple substitution that saw us move to a back four.
20 minutes into the second half, we’d managed just one touch in the opposition box, highlighting how much this game had swung after we’d forced Raya into five saves at this stage of the first 45.
One thing we were missing was Kieran Trippier’s leadership and creativity. Much like last weekend’s second half struggles against Chelsea, his calm head was missed in both halves as we struggled to wrestle our way back into this game, with our lack of control or creativity down the right evident.
We did, however, find a late surge in the final 10 minutes, yet it was that final ball letting us down once again, summed up by Willock firing well over after a big chance fell his way in the box. With no goal in the league all season and similar issues at Brighton two weeks ago, it was a moment that summed up Willock’s frustrating 2024/25 season.
And that was it. After having enough chances to be comfortably ahead in the first, we barely laid a glove on Arsenal in the second, with Gordon’s giveaway and Rice’s moment of quality the difference.
Next up, Everton on the final day where our mission is simple; win and we’re in the Champions League.
Howay the lads.