Arsenal are hoping to extend their lead on top of the table to 10 points against third-placed Newcastle United at home in a huge midweek battle in the Premier League.
The Gunners escaped late flurry from Brighton to win 4-2 at Amex while the Magpies winning run was halted by Leeds United in a goalless draw.
ARS vs NEW Match Details
Date: Tuesday, 3 January 2022
Time: 20:45 (BST) / 01:15 (IST)
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
ARS vs NEW Match Preview
It was a fabulous way for Arsenal to close down 2022 with a 4-2 win over Brighton on New year’s eve. Mikel Arteta’s side solidified the first position on the table with their 14th win in 16 games so far in the Premier League campaign. Bukayo Saka opened the scoring within 66 seconds of the game before Martin Odegaard doubled their lead in the 39th minute. It was another quick goal to begin the second half with Eddie Nketiah tucking away a saved shot from Gabriel Martinelli who then got on the scoresheet after being released by a wonderful pass by the team’s Norwegian playmaker. Brighton struck twice in the last 30 minutes to give a comeback scare but Arsenal managed to hold onto the win. Their lead at the top now stands at seven points with Manchester City and visitors Newcastle United dropping points on the same day. Arsenal now have a chance to extend the gap to a huge 10 points with another win. Winning all of the seven games at the Emirates stadium this season, one can hardly argue that the Gunners will do the same on Wednesday but Newcastle are a completely different outfit this time around. Though, Arsenal have won their last 11 games against the Magpies recording 28 clean sheets overall. Something they haven’t managed in the last two games after the World Cup break.
However, Newcastle United will put a reminder of the result of their previous meeting in which the Magpies won 2-0 to derail the home side’s top-four hopes last season. That game at St James’s Park was a testament of Newcastle taking baby steps to be a Premier League powerhouse after their Saudi-led takeover in 2021. This season, they have taken themselves to a different level vying for a Champions League spot in third with only one loss to show so far. Currently, Eddie Howe’s men are in a 15-game unbeaten run in all competitions and have beaten Arsenal’s London rivals, Chelsea and Tottenham in the Premier League in that period. But Newcastle’s extravagant winning and scoring streak in six league games came to an unexpected end against Leeds United on the last day of the year 2022. The stalemate occurred at home on the back of robust defending from the away side, a class act from opposition keeper Illian Meslier and some wasteful finishing of theirs. Not the kind of result Newcastle would have wanted before traveling to the Emirates to face the runaway league leaders. Nevertheless, Eddie Howe will be counting on the excellent record against the top-six this season in which they only lost to Liverpool to cause major issues for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Recent Form (Premier League)
ARS: WWWWW
NEW: DWWWW
ARS vs NEW Team News
Arsenal have no injury concerns to worry about and the same squad is ready to go again for this midweek clash. Oleksandr Zinchenko’s return was a huge boost for the Gunners in the last game with him keeping his place at left-back over Kieran Tierney. Emil Smith-Rowe and Reiss Nelson still need some days to recover from their injuries while Gabriel Jesus is out till the end of February with a knee injury.
Callum Wilson was eased back from his injury in the last two games for Newcastle United and is now ready to start against Arsenal. As a case, Chris Wood will drop to the bench. The team’s other striker Alexander Isak is still recovering from a calf problem he sustained in September last year. Emil Krafth, Jonjo Shelvey, Matt Targett and Paul Dummett are absent through their respective injuries.
ARS vs NEW Predicted Lineups
ARS: Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Granit Xhaka,Thomas Partey; Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli; Eddie Nketiah
NEW: Nick Pope; Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman, Dan Burn; Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton; Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin
ARS vs NEW Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Ramsdale (8)
DEF: White (8), Schar (7), Magalhaes (8.5), Trippier (7)
MID: Saka (9), Guimaraes (8), Odegaard (9), Joelinton (8.5)
FW: Almiron (9), Martinelli (8.5)
Vice-captain: Bukayo Saka
Captain: Martin Odegaard
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