Arsenal defeated Newcastle 2-0 at St. James Park as they tried to challenge Manchester City at the top.
Arsenal struggled to get the game going early on, so it was lucky that VAR overturned a penalty that had been awarded to Newscastle.
Martin Odegaard opened the scoring with a low shot from outside the area that went into the lower corner. Both teams had opportunities in an entertaining game, but Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Odegaard all squandered big opportunities to extend Arsenal’s lead before halftime.
In the second half, Newcastle made their presence known, and Granit Xhaka stopped Willock’s attempt while Alexander Isak’s strike hit the crossbar.
Gabriel Martinelli then raced against the Newcastle defense, and his attempted cross bounced off Fabian Shar as he scored an own goal to give Mikel Arteta’s side a 2-0 win.
Arsenal, however, remained second with 81 points after 35 games played, while Newcastle have 65 points from 34 games played.
