Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

  Arsenal 4 Newcastle 1     Premier League   Saturday 24th February 2024  8pm     Arsenal had unfinished business with Newcastle after their controversial defeat at St James’s park earlier in the season, and didn’t waste time in addressing that injustice in a totally dominant first half which really should have delivered even more than the pair of goals that they did score.   Arsenal have become the corner kings – not only in scoring from them, but winning them in the first place. In this game they won nine to Newcastle’s none. They opened their account when a Saka corner was met by Gabriel and throught a combination of contact with desperate defendeds crossed the line. The referee signalled the goal, awarded as an own goal and the Emirates erupted. It was an engaged and vocal crowd for this game, and they had plenty to shout about with the quality of the football their team were creating. Kai Havertz doubled the lead...

  Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0    Premier League    Saturday 4th November 2023 5.30pm     I am away for a few days for work and the timing of my commitments / workload means I was unable to catch the game yesterday and will not have two hours to watch the replay in full until I am back in London on the day of the Sevilla game. So I watched nine minutes of highlights and will simply write briefly on a discussion point that came out of the match.   A friend messaged me with the following after the game - Maybe I’m paranoid but the “unlimited money” teams seem to benefit a lot from VAR. And I don’t mean just directly. Maybe coincidence. I’d like to see a study on it to (hopefully) assuage my paranoia.   A couple of articles worth reading in relation to this from firstly The Guardian   and then this from a Danish website   In terms of regulation in the Premier League, a quote from the Guardian article sums it up nicely...

Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 2     Premier League    Sunday 7th May 2023 4.30pm I checked back on my entry the morning after Monday 16th May last year and it wasn’t pretty reading. I questioned the wisdom of already having given Mikel Arteta a contract extension when he (without the distraction of European football) had looked almost certain to fail to get Arsenal back into the Champions League and wrote of the defeat at St James’s Park – a game the visitors had to win – “ That Newcastle all too easily bullied their opponents is a damning indictment on Arsenal in 2022. For all the technique – which looks wonderful when it comes off – there is not enough steel. ” I questioned whether Martin Odegaard could produce when the heat of the battle became intense.   Well, 12 months is certainly a long time in football. Mikel Arteta might fall agonisingly short of winning the title, but the progress made since Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat is remarkable. The team have 81 points f...

Arsenal 0 Newcastle United 0     Premier League     Tuesday 3rd January 2023 7.45pm      This game developed the look of a very tricky fixture as it got nearer, with Newcastle’s ability to carve out results seeing them climb from the pack into Champions League qualification territory in the table. And so it proved. This isn’t going to be a long entry today, because ultimately, there isn’t too much about the game that requires deep analysis, just a few questions for Mikel Arteta to ponder.   Arsenal were unchanged from the win at Brighton, and perhaps there would have been a different feeling if the team had drawn there and won last night. In the end, the points are the same, only becoming a factor if Arsenal end up neck and neck in a race with Newcastle for either the title or a top four spot. Ultimately, what this match probably told us was that sometimes, the current lack of Gunners’ squad depth will lessen the chances of winning such tight matc...

  Newcastle United 2 Arsenal 0   Premier League   Monday 16th May 2022 8pm     The most disappointing aspect of yesterday evening’s defeat was the apparent lack of motivation in the Arsenal team, who had plenty to play for, against a mid-table team that – in honesty – had every reason to just go through the motions. How did it end up evidently mattering to Newcastle so much more? It points to the difference in experience between the two managers. Eddie Howe (44 years old) has been picking teams since 2008. Mikel Arteta (40 years old) has been doing the same for two and half seasons. Howe has never had the chance at a club of Arsenal’s stature and expectation, although with the money behind him at Newcastle, who is to say they won’t overtake the Gunners soon enough? 2021-22 offered a unique opportunity for the Gunners to rejoin Europe’s top table, and it’s difficult to envisage that being easier next time around. The decision to give Arteta an extra two seasons –...

Arsenal 2 Newcastle United 0   Premier League   Saturday 27th November 2021   12.30pm     Arsenal managed to climb to the lofty heights of fifth place with the good run that ended at Anfield last weekend. That game served as a reminder that this is still very much a work in progress, but one thing that is indisputable is that Arteta’s team has to be winning matches against poor opposition if they are to return to the status of contenders. Ideally, this season, that means squeezing into fourth place and generating the extra funds that the Champions League provides. So the idea that anything but three points at home to the bottom placed side in the division was simply unthinkable.   Eddie Howe has a huge job on his hands, and as it stands, a very poor pool of players to work with. The real triumph of the years of underinvestment under Mike Ashleigh is the club remaining in the top flight. The money is certainly there to buy better now, when the opportunity ar...

Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 2 Premier League Sunday 2nd  May 2pm Eight changes from Thursday evening’s match in Spain was no surprise, as it was Odegaard, Xhaka and Ceballos – who played less than an hour against Villarreal for all too obvious reasons – who remained. The Spaniard had a better game at St James’ Park, although who knows what the midfield will look like in four days’ time. I assume there is a faint hope that Kieran Tierney might be fit, although not even being on the bench today suggests that Xhaka will remain at left back, with Elneny presumably partnering the rested Thomas Partey in front of the defence. Elneny’s performance did suggest he could do a job, although the quality of the opposition must be borne in mind. However, the performances of Bellerin and Martinelli should also give Arteta some food for thought. He at least has some attacking options now, although Aubameyang as the central striker is pretty much a given. He scored the second goal yesterday to give ...

Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0  (aet)  FA Cup 3rd Round Saturday 9th January 2021 – 5.30pm    Arsenal 0 Crystal Palace 0   Premier League    Thursday 14th January 2021 - 8pm    Arsenal 3 Newcastle 0   Premier League    Monday 18th January 2021 - 8pm    So, firstly thanks to those that have emailed to express concern that I have come down with the virus, due to the lack of activity on the blog. I am healthy and well, but as I will explain very busy on the work front. Most people know that I have passed on the baton of Gooner editor to Layth Yousif, but less are aware that my new gig is holistic therapy. I do a lot of work on the connection between emotions and physical illness, although I am spending two weeks in South Africa to work with a fellow therapist exchanging ideas and developing programs for a home use microcurrent frequency device called a Healy . It was launched in the summer of 2017, but i...