Newcastle, May 17 (BNA): Newcastle United dealt a heavy blow to Arsenal’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League by beating them 2-0 in the English Premier League.
An own goal by Ben White and then a late goal by Bruno Guimarães in January sealed the win for Newcastle and left Arsenal two points behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth place with one game of the season remaining, Reuters reported.
Thanks to the superior goal difference, Tottenham will only need one point from already relegated bottom Norwich City on Sunday to qualify for Europe’s elite competition. Mikel Arteta’s team faces his former club Everton at home at the same time.
Newcastle started superbly, with their fans pulling it off in their last home game of the season. Eddie Howe’s side were third at Christmas but thanks to their new owners’ spending in the January transfer window, they climbed to the top of the table and only lost once at home in the league in 2022.
They dominated the match and came close to opening the scoring in the 37th minute by Alain Saint-Maximin, who cut from the wing and made his way to the edge of the area, but saw his low shot saved by goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
The breakthrough came shortly after the end of the first half, when Joelinton hit the ball from the left wing and sent a low cross to striker Callum Wilson, but it hit Arsenal’s defender White and slotted into his own net.
The hosts had plenty of chances to double their lead and they finally did in the 85th minute when Wilson slid across the goal but the ball bounced off Ramsdale into Guimaraes’ way who put him side by side.
The win, Newcastle’s first in the league against Arsenal since April 2018, means Howe’s side have moved up to 12th in the standings.
Arsenal coach Arteta admitted that his team had been beaten well.
“Newcastle deserved to win and they were much better than us,” he told Sky Sports. “We had nothing in the game. They were so much better in every department and we were poor with the ball.”
“A lot of things happened during the match, like being substituted for injuries, but that’s not an excuse because they were so much better than us.
“It’s true we couldn’t handle the game we had to play here. We tried to change some things but it wasn’t better. We had moments where we looked better but then the execution was very poor and the goals we were very poor.”