Arsenal vs Newcastle United Preview

Arsenal will look to seal their place in next season’s Champions League when they take on fellow top-five hopefuls Newcastle United in their penultimate Premier League game.

Having once sat so comfortably in second place in the Premier League, the Gunners are now at risk of being knocked off their perch after winning just one of their last six league games (D4, L1). Defeat here against Newcastle would see the Gunners slip down the table.

However, considering they’ve only lost one of their last 20 Premier League home H2Hs (W17, D2) and won 11 of the last 12, that could be deemed unlikely. It’s perhaps not as unlikely as that record may suggest, though, as Mikel Arteta’s side have already been beaten three times by Newcastle this season across league and cup, failing to score in any of those meetings.

No team has ever beaten the Gunners four times in a single campaign, though. With Arsenal losing their final home league game in only one of the last 27 seasons (W22, D4), they look good value to secure the point they need to effectively seal a top-five finish.

Newcastle’s chances of a top-five finish were greatly improved by their 2-0 win over Chelsea in their last outing. That win means that only Aston Villa (24) have claimed more points than Newcastle (22) across the last ten Premier League rounds.

So the Toon Army will definitely journey down to the capital in buoyant fashion. Eddie Howe’s men can still improve on the road, though, as they have won only two of their last six away league games (D1, L3). But interestingly, they do tend to excel in their final away league game of the campaign, losing none of their last six such games (W4, D2), with four of those games coming against London sides (W3, D1).

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table