Newcastle United were a little unlucky to come away with nothing from The Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, falling 1-0 to Arsenal following a second-half stunner from Declan Rice.
In a first half dominated by those in black and white, David Raya earned Sky's 'Player of the Match' award with five stops, most notably denying Bruno Guimarães, Dan Burn, and Tino Livramento, but also keeping Fabian Schär and Harvey Barnes out, too.
Sadly, all of the good work from that 45 minutes of action was for nothing as we looked a shadow of ourselves after the interval. We're not sure what Eddie Howe told the lads in the changing room, but it had the opposite effect as Arsenal took control.
The hosts still barely created anything resembling a chance from open play, though, and it took a genuinely world-class strike from Rice to beat Nick Pope, who had previously only been called into action from a dangerous Bukayo Saka corner.
Here's how we scored everyone involved in North London, with only a handful of starters letting us down, as we head into the final week of the season with our Champions League hopes in the balance but, crucially, still in our own hands...
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0 Burn
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Dan Burn did a good job of helping to keep Bukayo Saka quiet and relished the chance to get stuck into Kai Havertz
The Good
Sven Botman was the pick of the bunch for us, even though he only lasted 64 minutes. The Dutchman had been a major doubt heading into the game, but you'd never have known it from his performance, which was as smooth as ever. His incisive passing into midfield adds an entirely different dimension to the defence, while he was barely troubled by Arsenal's attackers going the other way.
Both Dan Burn and Fabian Schär pushed him close, though Burn did have some shaky moments, and Schär's passing wasn't as good as it usually is. Still, this was yet another game where our defence has largely done its job but been let down by a lack of quality higher up the park. This has been the case too often over the past month, and hopefully it won't cost us Champions League football.
Although Nick Pope was beaten, there was next to nothing he could've done about Declan Rice's strike. The big goalkeeper had a few clunky moments in possession, but his sweeper-keeping was the best it has been all season, and the save he made from Thomas Partey in the first half was exceptional. He's more than played his part in recent weeks, but we still think an upgrade is needed this summer.
While he didn't cover himself in glory for Arsenal's winner and should have scored in the first half, Bruno Guimarães was pretty good overall. His composure in possession was a huge part of our first-half dominance, and it was difficult to tell that he and Sandro Tonali were outnumbered in the middle.
Coming from the bench as a striker before being moved out to the right flank, Will Osula showed some dangerous moments and flashed a couple of good balls into the box. Howe obviously doesn't fancy him up front for whatever reason, but we'd love to see him getting more minutes ahead of Callum Wilson.
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0 Barnes
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Harvey Barnes has struggled since being moved away from his best position to accommodate Anthony Gordon
The Bad
We know we should appreciate what he's done for the club, but we can't wait to see the back of Callum Wilson. He won 0/7 duels, failed to register a shot, and gave possession away more times than he completed a pass. He's finished, unfortunately, and if he somehow gets a new contract, we'll show our bums in Burton's window.
Harvey Barnes has suffered massively since being moved out to the right to accommodate the return of Anthony Gordon , and neither has performed well enough to justify the move. Gordon carried more threat here, but was incredibly sloppy for Arsenal's winner, while Barnes just never seemed to be following in at the back post when a cross came in.
Neither Emil Krafth nor Joe Willock offered enough from the bench, and Krafth in particular stood out like a sore thumb for his lack of quality on the ball. Willock tried, there's no doubting that, but he's a player low on confidence who doesn't seem to fully trust his body after all of the injuries he's suffered.
As for our hosts, what a load of rubbish Arsenal are. Their goalkeeper getting Sky's 'Player of the Match' and their only goal coming from a world-class strike says it all about their performance in what was a crucial game for them. They didn't create a single chance in open play, and we were, by far, the better side in the opening period. We'll finish above them next season, mark our words.
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0 Murphy
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Jacob Murphy hasn't really done much wrong since being switched to right wing-back but wasn't great here
The Average
Sandro Tonali wasn't able to have his usual impact on the game but got through plenty of running, as he always does. We'd love to see him take more responsibility in games like these, especially when we're up against it, rather than him treating the ball like a hot potato and moving it to a less-talented teammate as fast as he can.
In the wing-back positions, both Jacob Murphy and Tino Livramento had funny games. Murphy was wasteful with his final ball and kept trying to play Wilson in behind for some reason, while Livramento seems to have a Severance-style switch in his head that triggers whenever he enters the final third. If he could show more composure in attacking positions, he'd be a certain starter for England despite the competition in the full-back zones.
Lewis Miley seems to be back in favour at the moment, but aside from being tidy, he hasn't offered much to the team in his recent appearances. Like Tonali, we'd like to see him demanding the ball more and trying to make things happen himself, rather than passing the buck to his teammates. He's got the talent to do it.
While Eddie Howe was surely delighted with the first half performance, he'll likely be fuming with what he saw after the break. He deserves massive credit for setting us up in the way he did, but we failed to take our chances when they came and looked like a shadow of our former selves after his half-time team talk.
Simon Hooper began his season of officiating Newcastle matches with a 1/10, but in fairness to the bloke, he's been pretty decent in the four games we've had him since then. He possibly lets too much go at times, but he was at least consistent with it here despite the endless moaning and griping from the home players.
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0 Breakdown
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We've played a lot worse than this and won; but there've been too many Jekyll and Hyde showings this season
The Breakdown
If any of our forwards could bother their arses to get above an 'Average' score in next week's ratings, that'd be splendid...
The XI
Nick Pope – 7
Jacob Murphy – 6 (off 63')
Fabian Schär – 7
Sven Botman – 8 ⭐️ (off 64')
Dan Burn – 7
Tino Livramento – 6
Bruno Guimarães – 7
Sandro Tonali – 6
Harvey Barnes – 5 (off 76')
Callum Wilson – 4 (off 64')
Anthony Gordon – 5
The Subs
Lewis Miley – 6 (on 63')
Will Osula – 7 (on 64')
Emil Krafth – 5 (on 64')
Joe Willock – 5 (on 76')
The Gaffer
Eddie Howe – 6
The Opposition
Arsenal – 5
The Ref
Simon Hooper – 6
01
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This man might not make it into the starting eleven against his former employers next week on current form
The Last
It all comes down to this. Newcastle United versus Everton in the 38th game of our 2024/25 Premier League campaign. Win and we're in next season's Champions League. Draw, and we still might be. Lose, and we're hoping for divine intervention.
It's a 4 p.m. (BST) kick-off on Sunday afternoon, and though it's not confirmed yet, it'll surely be one of the games selected by Sky to be shown, along with Chelsea versus Nottingham Forest, Manchester United versus Aston Villa, and Fulham versus Manchester City.
We've already won one cup final this season. Let's go and win another, eh?
HOWAY THE LADS!!!