Arsenal will be looking to keep one foot in the Premier League title race on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Newcastle United at the Emirates Stadium. The kick-off is scheduled for 3 PM ET. The Gunners are coming off a gut-wrenching first-leg defeat in the Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday to Porto, but remain in good form domestically with back-to-back clean sheets. The Magpies meanwhile played to a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth last time out and desperately need a positive result to inch closer to a spot in Europe. Continue reading below for the Arsenal vs Newcastle picks.
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Arsenal is a heavy -200 favorite to win outright on Saturday on home soil while Newcastle comes back at a steep +700 here. A draw is priced at +420. The total in goals meanwhile is set at 2.5. The Magpies have actually won two of the last four meetings with the Gunners but prior to that, it was nine straight defeats. Given how poorly Newcastle has played this term, it’s understandable why there’s such a gap in the odds.
The Gunners may not be in first place right now, but they’re still in the title conversation and also find themselves in the UCL knockout stages, as previously mentioned. Mikel Arteta’s men own a 17-4-4 Premier League record and sit just five points behind Liverpool in top spot. A victory here can in fact move them within two points of the Merseysiders after they played on Wednesday. Arsenal is flying high domestically right now, beating the Reds 3-1 a few weeks ago before 6-0 and 5-0 wins over West Ham and Burnley, respectively.
The frontline is firing on all cylinders but their clinical ways were nowhere to be found in Portugal in a 1-0 loss to Porto where the hosts scored a last-minute winner from a wild strike from way outside the 18-yard box. While that was a painful defeat for the Gunners, the second leg is back at the Emirates and should play in their favor. The visitors were toothless here, registering zero shots on target and just seven overall, despite controlling 65% of the ball.
Considering Arsenal just bagged 11 goals across the last two EPL games, this was an abysmal performance. The hope is they can respond on Saturday and find their best against a Newcastle outfit that isn’t exactly flourishing this season. Bukayo Saka has bagged back-to-back braces in his last two league appearances and will be relied upon to be a focal point in the attack at the Emirates in what is a vital game in regards to their title ambitions.
Maybe being in eighth place isn’t the worst for some clubs in England, but for Newcastle, who are now backed by loads of money, it’s simply not good enough. The Magpies shocked everyone and qualified for the Champions League last season but failed to make it out of the group stages in a difficult group with PSG, Dortmund, and AC Milan. And in England, they’ve also struggled to find any consistency.
Eddie Howe’s squad has an 11-4-10 record and has gone just 2-2-1 in their last five matches. However, across all competitions, the Magpies haven’t lost in five games, even beating Aston Villa during that span, a team that is the biggest surprise of the top flight in 2023-24. Last Saturday, it was a hard-fought point against the Cherries, with Anthony Gordon and Matt Ritchie finding the back of the net. The latter actually equalized in the dying seconds of injury time to help his side steer clear of defeat.
Every single game is important for Newcastle because they’re still seven points behind Manchester United for that final European berth with only 13 matches to go. It’s going to be an uphill battle for the Magpies and it doesn’t get any easier when you have to face Arsenal in North London. A tall task indeed.
The Gunners are 9-2-1 at the Emirates and I truly do believe they will bounce back in a big way on Saturday after a lifeless showing in the Champions League. The Arsenal moneyline looks good to me.
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