Newcastle vs Arsenal: 4 pre-match discussions

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<p>— Orbinho (@Orbinho) <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://twitter.com/Orbinho/status/1524868598031958034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>May 12, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div> <h2>Newcastle vs Arsenal: 4 pre-match discussions as Gunner chase Premier League top four on Monday night</h2> <p>Newcastle away from home will be a tough fixture. Eddie Howe, whether the money altered the course or not, has brilliantly lead the Magpies towards being the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation despite winning none of their first 14 games.</p> <p>Their home form under him is worryingly strong, too, and across 2022 they’ve shown marked improvements in almost all facets.</p> <p>Arsenal know what must be done. They won here last season in front of no supporters, but this time around it is Newcastle’s final home game of the campaign, under the lights, with the backdrop of a jubilant and joyful Geordie following, <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/14/arsenal-forced-squad-reshuffle-newcastle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">against a depleted side</a>.</p> <p>No game is easy. Not least when the pressure is as high as this.</p> <p>There is plenty to discuss.</p> <p>https://twitter.com/NUFC/status/1525068912836108289</p> <h2>1. Eddie Howe Manager Curse?</h2> <p>Who wants a big fat curse for dinner? Please, please, let this come true once again.</p> <p>On Friday the shortlist was drawn for the <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://www.90min.com/leagues/premier-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Premier League</a> Manager of the Season – a list that somehow missed out Arteta despite him leading the youngest team in the division to within a whisker of the Champions League – with Howe’s name featured.</p> <p>As many will remember, the last time Arteta got nominated (and won) Arsenal went on to lose three games in succession against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton. While that may feel like clinging on to straws, it also happened to Howe.</p> <p>The Magpies boss was nominated for the Manager of the Month for February with three wins and a draw, but as soon as he was confirmed as the winner on March 11, results changed.</p> <p>Newcastle’s nine game unbeaten run came to an end with a 1-0 defeat at Chelsea, which was followed by a 1-0 defeat at Everton and then a 5-1 thumping at Tottenham.</p> <p>Granted, he’s only been nominated on this occasion with no winner named, but fingers crossed the curse strikes again.</p> <p><em>Continued on next page…</em></p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Pre-match discussion #2 </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_114903" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-114903" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1230660842-850x560.jpeg" alt="Arsenal, Alexandre Lacazette" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Arsenal’s Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (C) celebrates. (Photo by SHAUN BOTTERILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h2>2. A Monday Omen for Arsenal?</h2> <p>At these desperate times, anything that can be clung onto for some reassurance will be grasped with both arms. Whatever it takes to lift the spirits, eh?</p> <p>One thing that Arsenal don’t care for too much is Monday fixtures. These night games always seem to favour the opposition.</p> <p>In Arsenal’s case, any omen one might hope for is that their last win on a Monday came, you guessed it, against Newcastle.</p> <p>That was back in January 2021 when a 3-0 romp that included a second half brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang either side of a Bukayo Saka goal, a result that moved Arsenal into the top ten (yes, it was <em>really</em> bad back then) on matchday 19.</p> <p>As for winning <em>away </em>from home on a Monday, well, you need to go back to December 2019 when Freddie Ljungberg oversaw a 3-1 win at West Ham with that memorable three-goal blitz inside the space of nine minutes.</p> <p>Hopefully Tyneside is kind once again.</p> <p><em>Continued on next page…</em></p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Pre-match discussion #3 </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_125695" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-125695" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1240376342-850x560.jpeg" alt="Arsenal, MA" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h2>3. Will Arteta’s Siege Mentality Work?</h2> <p>Immediately after the full-time whistle blew and Arteta had to do all of his post-match media work, he made it abundantly clear that this defeat <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/13/arteta-furious-arsenal-stance-spurs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had nothing to do with his team</a>, and instead rested on the referee.</p> <blockquote><p>“I cannot do it. I just want to say that I am really proud of my players but obviously we didn’t get the result that we wanted. I can’t wait to play on Monday,” the boss said after Spurs.</p> <p>“I want to be on the touchline on Monday night. No [I can’t talk] because I will be suspended. You can ask the referee if he wants to come and give an assessment of the match. I can do it but I have two options, I can lie to you, which I don’t do, or if not I will be suspended and I really want to be on the touchline against Newcastle.”</p></blockquote> <p>Strong words, the like of which he probably doesn’t believe.</p> <p>But it is clear what he was trying to do. Building an us-against-them mentality, one that protects the players from blame and directs scorn elsewhere, is the wisest way to avoid spirits from breaking too deeply. He has to keep galvanising his team and entering into a string of media work by blaming Holding and Cedric for their actions would do nobody any good.</p> <p>Straight away it was about focussing on Monday and praising the group. He’s a smart man, he knows what he’s doing.</p> <p>The question is, will it work?</p> <p><em>Continued on next page…</em></p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Pre-match discussion #4 </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_126049" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-126049" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1240169098-850x560.jpeg" alt="Arsenal, Nuno" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Arsenal’s Portuguese defender Nuno Tavares. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h2>4. From Portugal With Love – Nuno &amp; Cedric</h2> <p>Someone on social media refereed to these two as the Portuguese Chuckle Brothers. Apart from one of them sadly passing away not long ago, it’s a reference that is worrying apt.</p> <p>It’s totally unfair to write the duo off completely. Yet, it is not a reassuring heading into any fixture with a sense of dread that one or both has a clanger in them. Both can turn it on on occasion, just as both can do something inexplicably poor like stand 20 yards away from where they should be or gift possession to the opposition.</p> <p>Given the injuries and suspensions facing Arsenal there is every chance that the full-back pairing will be all Portuguese on Monday.</p> <p>In fact, <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/14/arsenal-predicted-xi-newcastle-white/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it’d be a surprise if it isn’t</a>.</p> <p>In some messed up way, perhaps the two will cancel each other out. Two negatives make a positive, etc, etc.</p> <div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="Predicted lineup vs Newcastle" data-url="https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/14/arsenal-predicted-xi-newcastle-white/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/15/newcastle-arsenal-4-pre-match-points/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/05/14/arsenal-predicted-xi-newcastle-white/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Predicted lineup vs Newcastle </a> </div> </div> <p>All of which is unjustly overlooking the fact that they’re professional footballers who played their part in getting Arsenal to this stage. We have to back them all the way, but don’t say you aren’t a little bit worried.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">