Paul Merson has given his prediction for who he thinks will win between Newcastle United and Arsenal this weekend.
Newcastle has managed to go five games without a loss in all competitions, despite the fact that their defence has been conceding goals while Arsenal’s assault has been rampant up until last night’s 1-0 loss to Porto.
According to Meron’s predictions for Sportskeeda, Arsenal will just be too strong for Newcastle, and he believes Bukayo Saka will play a crucial role in the matchup with the Magpies’ defence.
Merson says things ‘could get messy’ for Newcastle
Arsenal’s last Premier League scoreless stalemate occurred against Newcastle at the Emirates in January 2023, ending in a 0-0 draw that left the Gunners extremely dissatisfied as they were unable to penetrate Newcastle’s formidable defence.
But, Newcastle’s situation appears to be much worse as they have given up nine goals in their past four games and have found it difficult to defeat teams like Bournemouth and Luton Town.
The two weakest players have been Martin Dubravka in goal, whose performances have left a lot to be desired, and Dan Burn, who has received the greatest criticism and is often replaced early in the second half.
Many are calling for Tino Livramento to switch to left-back and attempt to stop Bukayo Saka, who Merson believes has a lot of speed on Saturday night.
“Arsenal suffered a big blow last night. They last won a European trophy 30 years ago. It just shows you how hard European competitions really are – you need the experience. They had a lot of the ball away from home, but they didn’t really know what to do with it. I’m not sure why they changed the away-goals rule – you’re now going to get games like this because teams will go into a shell in their away matches.
“I don’t think Arsenal will be impacted by their defeat in Europe this coming weekend. Although they haven’t lost in their last five games, Newcastle has been inconsistent lately. Although they are scoring goals, they are also giving up far too many goals. They will be annihilated if they defend like that this Saturday against Arsenal.
Although Newcastle’s defence is having trouble right now, there isn’t much left to play for. They open up games, which is why I enjoy seeing them play, but they don’t want to do that against Arsenal because it could get messy. I predict an easy victory for Arsenal in this match, as Bukayo Saka might have a field day.
Prediction: Arsenal 3-1 Newcastle United
Arsenal will be looking for revenge against Newcastle
Anthony Gordon’s goal at St. James’ Park gave Newcastle a 1-0 victory in their most recent meeting between the two teams. However, the goal was flagged three times by VAR for offside, foul play, and out of play.
The Gunners were furious as a result of that and Bruno Guimaraes’ performance, which for some reason did not result in a red card. Mikel Arteta called the game’s rulings “a disgrace” in an interview following the match.
Arsenal will now be trying to exact revenge on their rivals, and with Newcastle missing so many important players due to injury, there has never been a better time to do it.
Newcastle will be without Nick Pope, who would have been invaluable in stopping Arsenal’s attack, Joelinton, who had a fantastic game in the 1-0 victory, and Callum Wilson, who also started in the match at St. James’ Park.
While Newcastle still has a chance on Saturday, they will need to play at their highest level to improve on their performances against Luton and Bournemouth.
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