Arsenal vs Newcastle United

Second-place Arsenal hosts third-place Newcastle United at their Emirates home on Sunday afternoon in an exciting Premier League matchup between silver and bronze.

With all three points in North London, where Eddie Howe hopes to extend his curse on the Gunners, either team would guarantee a spot in the 2025–26 Champions League.

An apoplectic Mikel Arteta attacked Arsenal's lackluster first-half performance, which allowed Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz to give the Reds two goals, rather than celebrating his team's amazing comeback against Premier League winners Liverpool at Anfield.

In a classic case of a match split into contrasting halves, Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino—who was later dismissed with a red card—rallied Arsenal back into the race for the Premier League summit. Securing a 2-2 draw on the road against the defending champions, especially after a disheartening Champions League exit, was a commendable outcome.

However, Mikel Arteta opted to dwell on the shortcomings rather than the bright spots, a perspective perhaps justified by Arsenal’s ongoing winless streak, now stretching to five matches across all competitions. This is hardly the form expected of a team with aspirations to claim the 2025-26 Premier League title.

As it stands, Arsenal have yet to lock in a Champions League berth for the upcoming season. However, their qualification is all but assured if Aston Villa stumble against Tottenham Hotspur on Friday. It would require an extraordinary collapse for Arsenal to slip out of the Premier League’s top five at this stage.

The North London outfit is limping toward the end of the current season, far from the momentum they’d hope to carry into the next. They’ve gone four consecutive matches without a victory at the Emirates, and they now risk losing three home games in a row for the first time since late 2019, a period that marked the early days of Arteta’s tenure.

On the topic of Arsenal enduring three consecutive losses, that’s precisely the fate they’ve suffered in all their encounters with Newcastle this season. The Gunners fell in both legs of the EFL Cup semi-finals and were handed a heavy Premier League defeat at St James’ Park earlier this fall.

If Newcastle, the current EFL Cup holders, continue their dominance over Arsenal this weekend, they’ll not only secure a prized Champions League spot but also claim second place in the standings. Eddie Howe’s side bolstered their case for a top-tier finish with a victory over Chelsea last weekend.

The pivotal moments in Newcastle’s 2-0 win came courtesy of their vibrant midfield pair, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes. The Magpies are hitting their stride offensively at just the right moment, having found the net in 11 straight matches across all competitions.

Away games, however, have been less kind to Newcastle, with only two victories in their last six Premier League road trips. That said, they haven’t lost their final away match of a season since 2017-18.

Newcastle also have a chance to etch their name in English football history, potentially becoming the first team to defeat Arsenal four times in a single season. On the flip side, Arsenal’s 12-match unbeaten home streak against Newcastle in the Premier League gives them a solid foundation to build on.