Newcastle United 0-2 Arsenal: Player ratings as Arsenal see off Newcastle to keep Premier League title pursuit alive
Arsenal have kept the pressure up on Manchester City at the top of the Premier League thanks to a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United at St James’ Park earlier today.
Mikel Arteta’s men kicked off the contest on the back foot and nearly found themselves behind in less than two minutes as Jacob Murphy struck the woodwork early on.
Arsenal continued to struggle to lay a foothold on the clash and needed the intervention of VAR not to have given away a penalty.
However, it was the Gunners who broke the deadlock in the 14th minute as Martin Odegaard produced a lovely strike from outside the box to score his fifth goal in as many matches.
Buoyed by their opener, Arsenal took control of proceedings and should have added to their advantage but for some wasteful finishing from Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka.
With half-time approaching, Odegaard spurned a great chance to double his tally after a great pick-out from Martinelli and that proved to be the final meaningful act of the first half.
Like the opening 45 minutes, Arsenal had their crossbar rattled in the early exchanges of the second half, this time through Alexander Isak.
After a big miss in the first half, Martinelli came close to ending his mini-goal drought, only for the crossbar to deny him a 16th league strike of the campaign.
Following a sustained period of pressure for Newcastle, Arsenal doubled their lead with a bit of help from lady luck as Fabian Schar deflected Martinelli’s delivery beyond a helpless Nick Pope.
Aiming to get themselves back in the game, Newcastle turned to Allan Saint-Maximin with 12 minutes of normal time left to play.
The winger caused Arsenal plenty of problems in his time on the pitch, albeit all to no avail.
Arsenal held on to secure a first clean sheet in eight games and move within a point of Man City in the race for the Premier League title.
Aaron Ramsdale (7/10) – Repelled everything that came his way and was brave in the air when needed.
Oleksandr Zinchenko (6/10) – Came up second-best against Jacob Murphy for large spells of the game prior to his substitution just after the hour mark
Gabriel Magalhaes (6.5/10) – Having been an injury doubt for the game, Gabriel put in an assured display at the heart of the defence.
Jakub Kiwior (7/10) – Completed a game-high four clearances and won both of his ground duels en route to a well-deserved clean sheet.
Granit Xhaka (7/10) – The midfielder was as industrious as ever and helped his side hold their own in the centre of the park.
Jorginho (7/10) – Jusstified his manager’s selection once again thanks to a superb display at the base of the midfield.
Martin Odegaard (8/10) – Yet another brilliant performance for the Arsenal skipper, who could have easily come away with two goals and an assist on another day.
Gabriel Martinelli (7/10) – Missed an early chance to score but continued to terrorize Newcastle for the remainder of his outing.
Gabriel Jesus (6/10) – A relatively subpar display from the Brazilian, who hardly had a sniff at goal.
Bukayo Saka (6.5/10) – Got the better of Dan Burn throughout the afternoon and could have easily gotten himself on the scoresheet.
Substitutes
Leandro Trossard (4.5/10) – Failed to have any meaningful impact on the game in his 10-minute cameo.
Thomas Partey (5/10) – Came off the bench to help his side see out the game.
Kieran Tierney – 5/10
Reiss Nelson – N/A
Eddie Nketiah – N/A
