Arsenal are hoping to grab their first Premier League victory in over a month when they host Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday. The Gunners won the reverse fixture 1-0 in August with a second-half goal from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Arsenal have won the last three matches against Newcastle and and thirteen of the last fourteen direct matches in all competitions. The last time Newcastle defeated Arsenal in London was in 2010.
Arsenal are undefeated since the start of 2020, but they have won just one of their five Premier League matches during that period, the last four games were all draws. They did enjoy some success in the FA Cup in between, though, they qualified for the fifth round after a 2-1 victory at Bournemouth. Their last Premier League match was a goalless draw at Burnley, their first clean sheet after four matches. January signing Cedric Soares is injured and won't be able to make his debut for the new team, while Calum Chambers, Kieran Tierney and Reiss Nelson are also sidelined. New signing Pablo Mari could make his debut, while Bukayo Saka and Sead Kolasinac are injury doubts.
Newcastle are also undefeated since January 4th, that's eight matches in all competitions, and they also made it to the fifth round of the FA Cup after defeating Oxford United two weeks ago. Their last Premier League result was a goalless draw as well, at home against Norwich, a result that left the Magpies in 12th place, tied on 31 points with Arsenal. Getting the three points in this match is quite important for both teams as it could make the difference between an anonymous mid-table finish and a top-six challenge. Joelinton and Miguel Almiron are injury doubts for the visitors, while Jetro Willems, Javier Manquillo, Jack Colback, Paul Dummett, Dwight Gayle, Yoshinori Muto, Emil Krafth, Andy Carroll and Jonjo Shelvey are all sidelined.
Probable line-ups:
Arsenal: Leno - Bellerin, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac - Torreira, Xhaka - Martinelli, Ozil, Aubameyang - Lacazette
Newcastle: Dubravka - Ritchie, Fernandez, Lascelles, Clark, Rose - Almiron, Hayden, Bentaleb, Saint-Maximin - Joelinton
My prediction:
Arsenal really need the three points here and I think they will be able to take advantage of Newcastle's injury crisis, I expect a 2-0 win for the home side.
Here are the odds for the match at NetBet:
Arsenal win - 1.40
Draw - 4.75
Newcastle win - 8.00
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