No goals and a litany of infamy, but the start of a current title rivalry? Perhaps that is going too far and, after all, back in August, few would have given credence to the suggestion that Arsenal and Newcastle were battling it out at the top. But the sight of Mikel Arteta walking away to face Eddie Howe after full-time spoke of the needle that took little time to rear its head here; Howe had got exactly what he came for and it wasn’t hard, for different reasons, to see why these teams have lost just one game each all season.
Arteta had been left fuming when Jacob Murphy was not penalized following a handball appeal at the last kick, a decision that left him simmering almost an hour later. A different call would have given Arsenal a penalty and in all likelihood helped them move 10 points clear; they had tried to turn the screw late on and, given the number of balls that flew into the Newcastle box, there was always the suspicion that something might fall their way. However, they will face few defenses as expertly drilled as this one, and the result ultimately comes down to a master class in frustration and organization from the visitors.
After weathering the now familiar early storm from Arteta’s side, Newcastle dug in and ensured proceedings were rarely allowed to flow. Eddie Nketiah will wonder if he could have grabbed a late chance, repelled by an alert Nick Pope, with more netting and half-chances spurned in those opening exchanges, but it was telling that Arteta was reduced to complaining about non-awarded one-off releases. He also felt an incident midway through the second half, when Dan Burn appeared to grab Gabriel Magalhães’ shirt from a set-piece, should have been booked, but really this was a rare occasion where Arsenal didn’t enough
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Granit Xhaka chase Andy Madley in the hope of getting a late penalty decision for the handball. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images
No opponent had taken as many as a point from the Emirates all season and that spoke volumes for Newcastle’s success. It wasn’t pretty and Howe didn’t pretend so much afterwards – a purist would have cringed at the number of stops, small fouls and broken passages of play. But they were right to approach the task this way: Arsenal will blow you away if you let them, as sides with more famous names have discovered, and after finding a foothold, you have to make sure you keep it
This manifested itself in a succession of fouls from midway through the first period, which basically ended the first 45 minutes as a spectacle. Martin Ødegaard had volleyed home in the third minute and Bukayo Saka, scorching around Burn but unable to beat Pope from an angle, looked to have his opposite on toast. Granit Xhaka had also looked for an opener after a break from Saka, but was soon shown a yellow card by Andrew Madley for a sloppy foul on Fabian Schär, which typified the way Arsenal had seen dragged to a piece of Newcastle manufacturing.
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Goals were few and far between in a one-sided but Swiss second half, although Gabriel Martinelli headed home just before Nketiah’s sight. Martinelli, on the other hand, was quieter than at any point this season, expertly overseen by Kieran Trippier, while Joelinton put in a phenomenal shift supporting Burn to stifle Saka. The already-booked Joelinton may have been lucky when his arm later caught Saka’s face, but like any forward’s defensive performances, this was exemplary.
Chances at the other end were few and far between, although some outrageous play by Arsenal soon after the restart resulted in an Aaron Ramsdale shot and a Miguel Almirón cross. At half-time, Joelinton had stretched and missed a header from close range following a corner; Later there was some tennis heading inside the Arsenal box, but little to raise any real hope of an away win.
The fear was that Murphy, a substitute, had thrown it all away when Xhaka’s cross hit him from close range, but it would have been harsh in the end to pull it up. Arteta’s reaction on the touchline was explosive; It feels a bit much, as his team had not played badly and is still superbly placed at the top. Drawing gracefully should be possible given the brilliant fare they’ve come to produce most weeks.
Newcastle overturned that and remain embedded in the top four, although a challenge for top spot is probably far-fetched. That may come with time and the seeds were sown here for a long-lasting struggle.