Arsenal will aim to remain in the driving seat for Champions League

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Arsenal will aim to remain in the driving seat for Champions League football when they travel to Newcastle United for their penultimate game of the Premier League season on Monday night. The Magpies most recently went down 5-0 to Manchester City, while the Gunners were torn apart in a 3-0 North London derby defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday night.

Newcastle meet UEFA Champions League (UCL) chasing Arsenal, perhaps still surprised by the assured nature of the last few months considering their disastrous start to the season. Manager Eddie Howe may not have pulled the rabbit out the hat in Newcastle’s emphatic 5-0 defeat at Manchester City last time out, but he has waved his wand to become the first Premier League (PL) manager to guide a team to safety after going winless in their first 14 games, with a top-half finish even on the cards!

Ultimately, other results need to go their way if that is to happen, but Newcastle have been impressive for large spells in 2022, with only three PL sides picking up more points than their 32 so far (W10, D2, L5). They have, however, come up short against the top five sides this season, losing all nine prior PL games, and now face an opponent that’s defeated them in the last eight H2H encounters, failing to even score in the last seven!

Arsenal will be looking for some magic of their own, after a four-game winning run was ended abruptly in a 3-0 defeat to arch-rivals Tottenham. A top-four finish is still in their own hands though and victories in their final two games will secure UCL qualification for the first time since 2015/16, which is coincidentally also the last campaign they finished above their North London counterparts.

If the ‘Gunners’ want to add to their clean sheet run against the Geordies they’ll need to snap a streak of eight games without a clean sheet – currently the longest in the league. A lack of discipline is arguably a factor, as they have received at least five more PL red cards (13) than any other side during Mikel Arteta’s reign after yet another in Thursday’s loss. Though maybe this is to be expected from an exhilarating, yet inexperienced side that has seen 67% of their league goals scored by players aged 23 and under.

Date: 16/05/2022
Time: 22:00
Venue: St. James’ Park (Newcastle)
Pick for this match:
“2” – @ 1.77 ( BETWAY )