Key events
In her 1990 single Get Here, an epic meditation on ends and means, Oleta Adams implored: ‘I don’t care how you get here, get here if you can.’
Arsenal got there, back on top of the Premier League, by beating Newcastle 1-0. But aside from a lovely goal from Eberechi Eze, they may not wish to dwell on how they did so.
Then again, the Book of Football Cliches tells us that 1-0 victories win the league, so who knows. The only sure thing is that, right here, right now, Arsenal are top of the Premier League.
Full time: Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle
Tonali’s free-kick is headed away, the final whistle is blown and a hard-faced Mikel Arteta punches the air!
90+8 min Elanga is fouled 35 yards from goal in the inside-right channel. Nick Pope is forward for the free-kick…
90+7 min A poor corner is headed away at the near post by Hincapie. For all the poverty of their attacking play, Arsenal have defended excellently for most of this game.
90+6 min Tonali’s long-range shot hits an Arsenal defender and spins behind for a corner. This is probably Newcastle’s last chance.
90+4 min Arsenal break four on two, only for Gyokeres’s square pass to be cut out. That was a great chance to seal the game – and boost their goal difference.
90+2 min Newcastle have had decent spells of pressure all night, but they haven’t created too much. For all Arsenal’s tremulousness, they know how to keep their sheets clean.
90 min There will be seven added minutes, which has gone down well at the Emirates.
87 min Saka runs at Burn and pushes a simple pass back to Odegaard on the edge of the area. He swooshes a shot that would have sneaked in at the near post without a decent diving save from Pope.
Saka’s introduction has made a difference.
86 min Rice is booked for dissent after being penalised for a challenge on Burn. Newcastle bring on Anthony Elanga for Joe Willock.
83 min Barnes makes a good run down the right and stands up a first-time cross to the far post. Burn meets it with a powerful header that is comfortably held by Raya.
At one end or another, a goal is coming.
82 min Rice’s corner bounces around the Newcastle area until Maritnelli tries his luck, hooking the bouncing ball acrobatically over his shoulder from 15 yards. A nice try but straight at Pope.
81 min Saka’s first contribution is a trademark shift-and-shot that deflects off Burn and spins past the far post.
81 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Bukayo Saka and Myles Lewis-Skelly replace Noni Madueke and Martin Zubimendi. It looks Lewis-Skelly has gone straight into midfield.
80 min: Great chance for Wissa!
Arsenal’s title hopes are hanging by a thread. Woltemade drops off to receive possession 25 yards from goal and clip a delicious chip over the defence. Wissa times his run perfectly, but then volleys over with his right foot. With the caveat that volleys are intrinsically difficult, that was an excellent chance.
77 min I’d like to see some more replays of the Pope foul on Gyokeres to be sure, but my instinct is that there was enough doubt about whether it was a clear goalscoring opportunity – distance from goal, angle, the covering Thiaw – to justify showing a yellow card rather than red.
That said, when a goalkeeper takes out a forward so crudely it almost invites a red card on principle, like an LBW appeal when a batter pads up.
76 min: Newcastle substitution Nick Woltemade for the excellent Bruno Guimaraes.
74 min Pope is booked after fouling Gyokeres 40 yards from goal! Odegaard clipped an early pass over the top, Pope came miles out of his area and then ran past the ball. Gyokeres was in pursuit of it so Pope took him out – but it wasn’t a clear goalscoring opportunity because there was a covering defender, Thiaw, so the yellow card stands.
73 min Madueke runs at Burn and feeds a low cross into Zubimendi. He’s off balance as he takes a shot that hits a defender and dribbles through to Pope.
Still no sign of Saka or Dowman from the bench.
71 min Arsenal lose the ball and Martinelli is booked for a necessary tactical foul to stop a Newcastle counter.
70 min Odegaard’s cross from the right is chested down by Gyokeres towards Martinelli, whose shot on the run is well blocked. Arsenal are having a slightly better spell of possession.
68 min Moans and groans from the home fans as Madueke is caught offside. I know it’s hard but they really aren’t helping their team in the run-in. If I was an Arsenal fan, I’d be trying to channel the spirit of the legendary Barry Ferst.
66 min: Double substitution for Newcastle Harvey Barnes and Yoane Wissa replace Jacob Murphy and Will Osula.
65 min Rice collects a neat flick and moves into the area with purpose. Thiaw stays on his feet to make a classy challenge. Newcastle break and Tonali hits a stinger from 30 yards that is blocked by Gabriel.
63 min The stakes are too high for this game to be anything but compelling. But as an actual football match it’s been a stinker, a bald men’s comb-off between two teams in dreadful form.
61 min It’s hard to believe that the almost spine-tingling euphoria of Max Dowman’s goal against Everton was only three league games ago. The Emirates is a completely different place now.
58 min Burn is booked for fouling Gyokeres just outside the area on the right. Arsenal need a second goal because right now the Emirates is an angst-ridden place.
Madueke’s free-kick is cleared.
56 min In my lifetime, when Arsenal have won the league they have generally romped to glory. They won 10 in a row at the back end of 1997-98 and 13 in a row in 2001-01; they lost one game all season in 1990-91 and none in 2003-04.
The one time they really struggled with nerves was the most famous of all, 1988-89. Arsenal had two wobbles, one in February and March and another in May, that looked set to cost them the title. We all know how that story ended.
55 min A dangerous free-kick from Rice flashes across the face of goal. The offside flag went up against Hincapie, though it was very tight. No matter.
53 min: Arsenal substitution The goalscorer Eberechi Eze is leaving the field with what looks like a muscle injury. Gabriel Martinelli replaces him.
51 min Lots of Newcastle possession in the Arsenal half. Miley’s deep cross is controlled beyond the far post by Jacob Ramsey, who clips a cross that is headed away.
49 min No fast start to the second half from Arsenal. It’s fascinating that their best, most uninhibited performance of recent weeks came in the toughest game of the lot last weekend. They’re showing us the life of the mind.
47 min “A free-kick conceded by Saliba (42 mins) didn’t lead anywhere?” writes Matt Dony. “William, It Was Really Nothing.”
46 min Joe Willock has the first kick of the second half, an almost Brobdingnagian second half for Arsenal.
Suzanne Wrack
Half-time reading
Olivia Smith is tentatively laying down roots but remains alert to the changes that can be produced by football. The 21-year-old Arsenal forward, who has nine goals and three assists in her first season in north London, has lived a nomadic football life, driven by a desire to continuously improve and move up the ladder, rung by rung, without a pause.
As the season reaches its climax, a Champions League semi-final against Lyon on Sunday is testament to how far up the ladder Smith has climbed. Now, she is heading towards unknown territory: a second season at the same club for the first time in her senior career.
“I do feel quite calm now, knowing that I have set down some roots here, but at the end of the day, football is football and you never know what’s next,” she says. “So I’m always on my toes but, right now, I’m kind of laid-back, just enjoying the time here in the present with Arsenal and looking forward to winning more silverware and growing as a player and a person.”
Half time: Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle
The end of a first half in which Arsenal were nervous and passive – except when Eberechi Eze was putting them ahead with a typically charming goal. A crucial second half awaits.
45+1 min Three minutes of added time.
45 min Burger, chips and a beer costs almost £20 at the Emirates Stadium. But fingernails come for free and thousands of Arsenal fans are munching on them instead. Even though they are leading, the nervousness has grown incrementally throughout the first half.
43 min Since Eze’s goal, Newcastle have had eight shots to Arsenal one. Most have been off-target but it’s a reflection of a slightly passive performance from Arsenal.
42 min Bruno Guimaraes, the dominant figure in the midfield battle so far, is fouled 35 yards from goal by Saliba. He takes the free-kick shot to Tonali, whose long-range shot is repelled on the edge of the area.
39 min Next goal’s a big one. If Arsenal score it, they could give their goal difference a lovely deep tissue massage. If Newcastle get it…
38 min Dan Burn tries an off-balance chest-volley from the edge of the area. No.
36 min There was some good analysis on Sky (no, really, Roy) during that injury break. In essence, Arsenal have barely taken a short corner all season, then they took three in a row that led to Eze’s goal. The Jovercraft strikes again.
34 min: Arsenal substitution Havertz walks sadly down the tunnel to be replaced by VG.
33 min Kai Havertz is down with what looks like a groin problem. Viktor Gyokeres is warming up.
32 min “Le Tissier and Eze is an excellent comparison,” writes Matt Dony. “Except Eze hasn’t blocked me on Twitter. Yet.”
29 min: Good save by Raya!
Arsenal have been better in possession in the last five minutes or so. The roles have been reversed, with Newcastle a winner a corner on the left. Bruno’s inswinger is cleared as far as Tonali, who hits a wobbling snapshot from 25 yards that is beaten away by Raya. That’s a pretty good save. Raya made life difficult for himself by slightly misjudging the line of the shot, but it also swerved and he reacted smartly to change direction and get down to his left.
28 min “I’ve got to disagree with the esteemed Peter Oh’s choice of a Smiths anthem for Arsenal fans,” begins Justin Kavanagh. “Surely it’s got to be Stop Me If Think You’ve Heard This One Before?”
How about A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours?
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/apr/25/arsenal-v-newcastle-united-premier-league-live
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