Arsenal secured a crucial 2-1 comeback victory against Newcastle United on Sunday, narrowing the gap in the Premier League title race. This dramatic win, characterized by late goals and effective set pieces, highlights a growing trend in their match-winning strategy.
Despite dominating possession throughout the game, Arsenal found themselves unexpectedly trailing 1-0 at St. James` Park. Newcastle took the lead in the 34th minute with a set-piece goal, where Sandro Tonali assisted new signing Nick Woltemade. Following their goal, the Magpies adopted a highly defensive approach, a tactic often criticized when employed by Mikel Arteta`s own Arsenal, leading to a largely predictable hour of play.
Eddie Howe`s Newcastle fiercely defended their slender 1-0 lead, conceding significant possession to the visitors and facing nine shots on target while ahead. Their own offensive output was minimal, with only two shots recorded in 50 minutes and none on target, resulting in a meager 0.12 expected goals. While such a pragmatic, results-oriented strategy is often considered effective regardless of player quality, in this instance, it ultimately failed.
Arsenal finally equalized in the 84th minute through Mikel Merino`s goal, a testament to their sustained pressure on Newcastle`s defense. By the time Merino scored, the Gunners had registered 18 shots and accumulated 1.29 expected goals, a clear indication of their dominance. The decisive winning goal came in the 96th minute from a classic set-piece: Martin Odegaard`s inswinging delivery found Gabriel`s head, sealing the victory.
While Liverpool is often lauded for its late-game heroics this season, Arsenal demonstrates a similar knack for scoring crucial goals. They secured a stoppage-time equalizer against Manchester City last week and netted both goals after the 70th minute in their 2-0 Champions League victory over Athletic Club. Substitutes have been instrumental in these late surges; Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard contributed a goal and an assist each in Bilbao, Eberechi Eze assisted Gabriel`s equalizer against City, and both Merino and Odegaard impacted Sunday`s game from the bench.
These impactful substitutions validate Arsenal`s recent aggressive transfer policy, which prioritized building squad depth to overcome challenging situations, such as the one encountered on Sunday. This victory places them just two points behind current league leaders Liverpool, who suffered a defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday, thus keeping Arsenal firmly in the early-season title contention. Despite this success, questions persist regarding Arsenal`s primary attacking lineup; Trossard registered only one shot on Sunday, and Bukayo Saka`s two shots amounted to a mere 0.06 expected goals. Furthermore, Viktor Gyokeres`s three Premier League goals have all come against teams in the lower half of the table.
However, Arsenal`s consistent ability to produce late surges allows Arteta to postpone addressing these attacking unit concerns for now.
