Prediction: Newcastle vs Arsenal

Prediction: Arsenal win

Best Odds: 10/11

Bookmaker: bet365

The Premier League will be returning to our screens in the next 24 hours or so, with the first international break of the new season coming to an end. While we can often appreciate the start of something new, such as the UEFA Nations League, there’s nothing quite like domestic football and you won’t find too many fans who disagree with that. One of the most notable games this weekend comes in the form of Newcastle United vs Arsenal, as two old school EPL rivals battle it out once again.

Newcastle

When you put aside everything that’s happened away from the game itself for Newcastle United, the truth of the matter is that they just aren’t a great football team at this moment in time. They make too many mistakes, they haven’t made the necessary improvements in the transfer market, and they look devoid of energy. With that being said a home crowd can do a lot of things for a seemingly ‘down and out’ team, and it’ll be interesting to see how they feed off the energy as they go in search of their first win of the campaign.

Team News

Matt Ritchie and Jonjo Shelvey have both been on the sidelines through injury, but they should be fit enough to make their returns this weekend. Benitez will likely keep five at the back, whereas up top, Salomon Rondon will continue to try and find his goal scoring form.

Arsenal

After a rocky start to life at the Emirates, it seems as if new manager Unai Emery is finally setting into his role, and that can only be a good thing after just four games of the new season. There are still defensive issues that need to be rectified but that’ll come with time, and so long as they can keep grinding out results, people won’t care all too much given that this is a ‘rebuilding’ phase.

Team News

Lucas Torreira picked up a small calm problem during international duty which could rule him out of this game, with one of the bigger decisions of the weekend for Emery being whether or not to start Aubameyang, Lacazette or both.

Factors to Consider

• The game will be played at St James’ Park.
• Newcastle have just one point from their first four Premier League games.
• Arsenal have six points from their first four Premier League games.
• The Gunners lead 75-67 in the overall head to head standings, with 38 draws.
• In their last meeting back in April, Newcastle defeated Arsenal 2-1.

Conclusion

Instead of throwing everything at Newcastle from the word go, we think that the Gunners are going to be a little bit more conservative than that. They know the Magpies have no real attacking threat but if they try too hard to get the early goal, they could find themselves on the wrong end of a counter. We think Arsenal will eventually build up a 2-0 lead before the hosts score and set up a grandstand finish, with the final result being a narrow yet ‘somewhat’ convincing 2-1 triumph for Emery’s side.

Prediction: Arsenal win

Best Odds: 10/11

Bookmaker: bet365