Gabriel Martinelli scored Arsenal’s second goal (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal kept their Premier League title hopes alive with a 2-0 win over Champions League-chasing Newcastle United at a frenetic St James’ Park.
The Gunners have shown signs of fragility and nervousness over the past month as they battle Manchester City for the title, but Mikel Arteta’s side were able to move to within one point of their rivals by beating in-form Newcastle.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard opened the scoring after the visitors survived a brutal early onslaught in which Newcastle hit the post and had a penalty overturned by VAR.
The Gunners continued to ride their luck in the second half as Newcastle struck the woodwork again, before an Arsenal counter-attack and Fabian Schar own goal put the game to bed.
Mikel Arteta’s side are one point being Manchester City with three games remaining, while Newcastle United are third – three points above fifth-placed Liverpool with a game in hand.
As has become almost customary at St James’ Park this season, Newcastle made an electric start and Jacob Murphy struck the post inside the first two minutes.
The Magpies, who had scored 13 goals in their last three games, were then awarded a penalty for a Jorginho handball, only for VAR to overturn Chris Kavanagh’s initial decision.
Martin Odegaard opened the scoring for Arsenal (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal opened the scoring against the run of play on 14 minutes as Martin Odegaard found space on the edge of the box and rifled a shot past the outstretched Nick Pope.
While Pope failed to keep out Odegaard’s pinpoint effort, he twice prevented Arsenal from doubling their lead midway through the first half, first kicking away Gabriel Martinelli’s effort and then palming away Bukayo Saka’s strike.
Newcastle remained dangerous, though, and ex-Arsenal forward Joe Willock forced a save from Ramsdale as the hosts chased an equaliser.
Both keepers were being kept busy and Pope kept out Odegaard on the stroke of half-time when the Arsenal captain looked set to put the visitors two goals ahead.
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The frenetic nature of the match continued after the break, with Newcastle hitting the post through Alexander Isak and Ramsdale making another big save to deny Fabian Schar.
Arsenal also came close to scoring a crucial second, however, with a curling effort from Martinelli clipping the crossbar.
The Gunners did partly silence St James’ Park with 20 minutes remaining as Martinelli led a counter-attack and his cross was deflected in by Newcastle defender Schar.
More to follow…
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