Europe and USA, Newcastle and Arsenal. Here was the latest round of what has become the Premier League’s most irritable and intriguing rivalry. Welcome to Bethpage Black and White, where the raiders absorbed the barbs and held their nerve on the green of the St James’ Park battleground to sink one at the last.
Arsenal were trailing 1-0 entering the 85th minute. Whereas Superman had kryptonite, the Gunners have had Tyneside in recent seasons. After another bruising and bitter contest, they were headed for a fourth straight defeat here, again without scoring a goal.
To have lost, on a weekend when pace-setters Liverpool finally conceded some ground, would have felt like Mikel Arteta’s side as good as giving up on the Premier League title. This was a window of opportunity they had to take. In the end, they scraped through the frame seconds before it closed.
But a goal in the 96th minute is worth as much as one in the sixth, and for Arsenal this could yet be among the most valuable of their season. They had drawn level five minutes from the end of normal time when a short-corner routine climaxed with Mikel Merino’s header skidding in via the post.
Declan Rice had supplied the cross for the equaliser and, with time far more pressing 11 minutes later, he delivered a first-time corner from the opposite flank. And there, amid a crowd of bodies in the goalmouth, Gabriel turned in a header that caused the Arsenal dugout to empty.
It had a similar effect on the Gallowgate End, who had watched their team claw their way to within a few swings of victory. It was not to be for Eddie Howe’s side, who have now won one in six in the league.
Gabriel’s dramatic stoppage-time winner earned a vital three points for Mikel Arteta’s side
Mikel Merino ignited Arsenal’s comeback, scoring the 84th-minute equaliser from the bench
They had to ride their luck to find themselves in a winning position so close to the end, and goalkeeper Nick Pope was their star man, despite the late concessions. He was the centre of the first moment of controversy when Arsenal were given a penalty in the 15th minute.
It looked a stonewaller on real-time viewing, Viktor Gyokeres reading Jacob Murphy’s back-pass and nicking the ball by Pope before being clattered. The only question to answer was whether Pope would be sent off.
But VAR had seen something very few inside St James’ had noticed, and that was the slightest touch on the ball by Pope. Even the Newcastle keeper did not seem to be protesting against the award.
But there it was – the toe on the ball before the knee on the striker. And so, after a pitchside review, Jarred Gillett overturned his on-field decision. It was the right call. Because as soon as Pope gets something on the ball, everything after is secondary unless excessive force, which it was not.
Come the 34th minute, the hosts were in front. Newcastle fans celebrating the award of a corner has felt pointless of late, given they rarely score from them or any form of set-piece. It’s like salivating at the sight of a steaming kettle, when there are no tea-bags in the house.
This time, though, their routine did come to the boil. It was short, but Newcastle were playing the long game. Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon swapped passes before the former hung a ball to the fringe of the six-yard area.
Nick Woltemade, Howe has stressed, needs minutes in his legs before he can be judged. Maybe, but what his legs lack his head is more than making up for during his early days on Tyneside.
Nick Woltemade gave Newcastle the lead in the first half – heading home Sandro Tonali’s cross
After losing Gabriel, who flopped to the turf in search of a free-kick, the German flashed a header into the bottom corner. It was all perm and power.
Merino’s leveller was more subtle and it stoked the belief that Arsenal could win. From scrambling for a point, they were now searching for a winner. The moment when it arrived will not win them the Premier League title, but it certainly killed off any talk of them losing it.
