Arsenal’s stunning stoppage time success at Newcastle United reawakens Premier League title aspirations

By Kaz Mochlinski
Sep 30
7 min read

Newcastle United (1) 1 v Arsenal (0) 2

Woltemade 34

Merino 84

Gabriel Magalhães 96

By Kaz Mochlinski at St. James’ Park

Premier League

Matchweek 6

Arsenal produced a stunning late comeback for a precious victory at Newcastle United with a dramatic 96th minute winner from Gabriel Magalhães after trailing right up until six minutes from full-time.

Only once have the Gunners been behind at a later stage in a Premier League game and recovered to win, when beating Norwich City 3-1 in April 2013, with the equalising goal then being scored in the 85th minute by Mikel Arteta, the current head coach.

“To win in the manner that we have done it, wow, what a feeling” enthused Arteta after the encounter at St. James’ Park. “Football is about emotion and going through many feelings, and today we had a beautiful one at the end of the match.”

On a potentially pivotal weekend in the Premier League title race, Arsenal eventually made the most of the opportunity opened up by the previous day’s defeat at Crystal Palace of the champions and early league leaders, Liverpool.

The Gunners cut the gap at the top of the table to just two points and simultaneously sent a significant signal to their rivals with a superb performance characterised by unrelenting determination and desire.

In a fabulous game full of attacking football and scoring chances being constantly created, it took Arsenal’s now-renowned set-pieces to rescue them, with two goals through headers from corners.

Newcastle had taken the lead in the first half in an identical manner, and then defended it with increasing desperation, holding out almost to the end, not least thanks to some great goalkeeping by Nick Pope.

While the home team as ever responded to the typically passionate support inside the incredibly atmospheric arena of St. James’ Park, so too did Arsenal, following Arteta’s advice to revel in a special footballing experience rather than being intimidated by it.

Trying to break a run of four losses in their previous five visits to Newcastle, including the last three in a row in all competitions, the Gunners were boosted by Bukayo Saka being fit enough again to start a Premier League match for the first time in a month.

With Eberechi Eze wearing the number 10 shirt and playing in the “number 10” role just in behind Viktor Gyökeres, Arsenal sought to get plenty of players forward from the outset, forcing the first save from Pope after only just over a minute.

Coming up to the quarter-of-an-hour mark, in the first big moment of the contest, the visitors thought that they had won a penalty when Gyökeres intercepted Jacob Murphy’s backpass and was brought down by Pope as he rounded the goalkeeper.

The referee, Jarred Gillett, pointed to the spot, but then had to reverse his decision on review, after the first of two huge VAR interventions denying penalties, one in each half for either side, with both feeling extremely frustrated.

It had not been obvious live that Pope had got his right foot to the ball before there was contact between him and Gyökeres, with the keeper diverting the ball away and planting his leg on the ground, not making any movement towards the striker.

Arsenal finally got past Pope from a fine, fast-flowing move, started on the right then switched inside, with Declan Rice taking it on and playing in Leandro Trossard down the left for a fierce shot which rebounded off the near post.

Instead, it was Newcastle who went ahead prior to half-time, from a corner. Sandro Tonali changed the routine, taking it short to Anthony Gordon, back in the line-up after a three-game suspension for his red card against Liverpool.

Tonali received the return and crossed for the Magpies’ £69 million record signing Nick Woltemade to head home, helped by Gabriel going to ground excessively easily when feeling a minimal touch from the 6’6” centre-forward.

Arsenal were aggrieved, and Gabriel attempted to exact his own retribution by pushing Woltemade when they came together right after the restart, raising his arms to the German’s head, being perhaps fortunate to avoid any sanction.

And there was further controversy involving them early in the second half, when Gordon cut the ball in from the left and Woltemade was only prevented from reaching it in front of goal by Gabriel pulling his shirt back, again being lucky to get away with it.

Despite playing towards the Gallowgate End, Newcastle’s forays forward got fewer and fewer, as they increasingly tired from trying to absorb all of Arsenal’s attacking with sustained energy and pace, led by Rice, who was utterly outstanding throughout.

While the hosts went to a back five to protect their advantage, the Gunners were once more reinvigorated by Arteta’s substitutions, and especially the club captain Martin Ødegaard coming on with eight minutes to go, on his return from a shoulder injury.

Ødegaard contributed directly to both Arsenal goals, being involved in the first after having been on the pitch for two minutes, and then getting the assist for the second. But it was another replacement who scored the equaliser.

For the fourth consecutive game, a Gunners goal came from a substitute, in a sequence started by Gabriel Martinelli and Trossard both getting one for a 2-0 triumph against Athletic Club in Bilbao in the Champions League.

From an assist by another sub in Eze, Martinelli scored the goal to get a 1-1 draw with Manchester City, then Trossard sealed the 2-0 win at Port Vale in the League Cup in midweek, underlining the squad’s increased strength in depth.

At St. James’ Park, the scorer was an ex-Newcastle United player. Mikel Merino might not have left much of a mark as a Magpie, but he continues to thrive after finding his way to Arsenal via Real Sociedad.

Like Tonali for the opening goal, Rice varied the corner routine, playing a short one to Eze, before getting it back from Ødegaard and curling the ball over for Merino to deftly head across goal and inside the far post.

In the two years since his transfer to Arsenal for the 2023-24 season, Rice has now provided 10 assists for goals from set-pieces, more than any other player in the Premier League during this time.

The link-up worked especially well with Merino, who is the Gunners’ top scorer in 2025, with nine goals in all competitions and seven in the Premier League. Four of the nine have been headers, the most of any top flight player this year.

However, Newcastle might have regained the lead almost immediately, as substitute Anthony Elanga’s right wing cross was blocked in the box by the sliding Gabriel with his arm raised, but a penalty was not given by the referee.

The VAR view was to not overturn the on-field decision, as the ball was adjudged to have been diverted off Gabriel’s leg onto his arm, although it was almost impossible to see any deflection, even on multiple video replays.

The Geordie fans’ sense of immense injustice all afternoon about Gabriel was compounded stratospherically when he made the most of his unlikely series of reprieves to score the decisive goal deep into stoppage time.

Again, Arsenal switched their corner delivery, from Rice’s right-footed out-swingers to an Ødegaard left-footed in-swinger, met courageously by Gabriel, rising above all the black and white shirts plus Pope for the header and the late, late win.

It was the Gunners’ second-latest winning goal in a Premier League away match. Officially stopping the clock at 95:45, this has been surpassed only by Rice’s winner at Luton Town in December 2023, timed at 96:23.

On this Sunday in the North-East, Arsenal scored from their 11th and 12th corners of the game - for their 35th and 36th goals from corners in the Premier League since the start of the 2023-24 season, now 15 more than any other team.

“At the end we found a way to win it, when I think we fully deserved to win the game” said Arteta. “The way we played and performed and competed, the chances we generated, we deserved to win. We did it in a dramatic way but we deserved to win.”

St. James’ Park has already this season witnessed Newcastle last month losing in the league to Liverpool 3-2 in the 100th minute, so another stoppage time concession was particularly painful.

Meanwhile, in Arsenal’s last two Premier League matches they have gained a draw and then this victory through 93rd and 96th minute goals respectively, prompting the use of words like “unbelievable”, “exceptional”, and “remarkable” by Arteta.

“l’m so proud of the team, the way we played, the way we competed, the way we understood the game, how we reacted to very difficult situations and decisions, and still found a way to win the game with the players coming from the bench.

“It was exceptional.”

And the delighted head coach added: “We discussed that, to go to the next level, first of all you have to learn from the past. And certainly we have taken some lessons from very difficult and sore moments in this ground.

“Today was an opportunity that the game brings you again in a really important week in the Premier League, after all the tough places that we’ve already been to very early in the season.

“To show who we are, who do we want to be, our ambition and the way that we want to play. I think the team has done that today in a remarkable way.”

The league title cannot be secured in September, and Arsenal remain in second place in the table. But is there a feeling of a momentum shift, that could start to perhaps propel the runners-up of the last three seasons to go one better this time?

Arteta thinks so: “There are moments in the season, and obviously with the start that we had already and the difficult fixtures that we had, today we had the opportunity to close that gap and do it in a stadium that has a very recent difficult past for us.

“I think this result shows how much the team wants it.”

Newcastle United: (4-3-3) Pope - Livramento (Lascelles 77), Thiaw, Botman, Burn - Guimarães, Tonali, Joelinton (Barnes 94) - Murphy (Elanga 66), Woltemade (Osula 66), Gordon (Trippier 66)

Arsenal: (4-2-3-1) Raya - Timber, Mosquera (Saliba 46), Gabriel Magalhães, Calafiori (Merino 69) - Zubimendi (Ødegaard 82), Rice - Saka (Martinelli 69), Eze, Trossard (Lewis-Skelly 88) - Gyökeres

Attendance: 52,199