As they look to bounce back from a disappointing 3-1 loss to West Ham in the Carabao Cup in midweek, Mikel Arteta has tagged Newcastle’s home ground, St. James’ Park as one of the ‘toughest places to go to’.
The Gunners, after their exit from the EFL Cup return to action on Saturday with a trip to the Tyneside to face Eddie Howe’s Newcastle looking to pick up from their demolition of Sheffield United last weekend, but Arteta has admitted a tough duel awaits them at the St. James’ Park.
“It’s one of the toughest places to go and win, we know that – we’ve done it,” Arteta in his prematch press conference said.
“It’s nothing new to it, we know what to expect. It’s very clear what their strengths are, what the opportunities are for us too.”
Despite coming off that Carabao Cup humiliation, Arteta insists they will be absorbed in overcoming the Magpies.
He said: “The next game is the next game, we have to be focused, and our full energy is on beating Newcastle.”
Like Arteta predicts, beating Newcastle is going to take some hard work from the Gunners. The Magpies are booming with confidence following their abashment of Manchester United in the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford.
Newcastle humbled Erik Ten Hag’s charges with Miguel Almiron, Lewis Hall and Joe Willock providing the goals as they dumped Man United from the competition with a 3-0 victory.
They however, head into this game on the back of a 2-2 draw against Wolves last weekend. Twice Newcastle took the lead in that game, but twice they were pegged. In the end, they were forced to settle for a draw at Wolves who are 12th in the league.
Although they’ve already faced heavyweights such as PSG, Mancheater City and Dortmund albeit not in the Premier League, Howe insists Arsenal will provide a ‘big test’ for their capabilities.
“I thought they were so close to winning the league and then, in the summer, I thought they recruited really well,” Howe said of the Gunners.
“I think they’ve moved on from last year. They’re unbeaten so it’s a really big test of our credentials. We’re looking forward to the game.”
Newcastle will be without Javier Manquillo, Lewis Miley, Elliot Anderson, Jacob Murphy, Sven Botman and Harvey Barnes for that game, all because of injuries.
But Alexander Isak could be named in the match day squad for the first time since the international break depending on his fitness level.
Emile Smith-Rowe joined Arsenal’s growing list of injuries on Wednesday just moments before West Ham. The midfielder who has been unlucky with injuries suffered a knew problem, and will now join the sickbay that already has Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and long-term absentee Jurrien Timber.
