Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hailed his team’s ‘courage’ after Gabriel Magalhaes’ 96-minute header saw them beat Newcastle United 2-1 at St James’ Park in dramatic fashion.
The Gunners were denied a penalty by VAR in the first half before Nick Woltemade opened the scoring for the hosts in the 34th minute.
Arsenal had big chances in the game, but a solid performance from Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope kept them at bay before a clinical header from substitute and former Newcastle man Mikel Merino in the 84th minute finally levelled the scoring.
The game looked destined to end in a 1-1 draw, but Gabriel came up with a potentially HUGE moment in the title race by netting a header from a Martin Odegaard corner deep into stoppage time.
Arsenal now sit second in the Premier League table, only two points behind Liverpool, who dropped points this weekend when losing to Crystal Palace.
“[I feel] pride and I think we fully deserved the win. The way we played and performed and competed. The chances we generated, we deserved to win. We did it into a dramatic way but we deserved to win,” Arteta told Sky Sports in a post-match interview.
“That is how you get to a different level. By going through those moments and take those lessons from it. It was a massive opportunity to show who we are. For ourselves because they are a terrific team and they are so difficult to play against. The level of consistency and quality we showed today was top.
“I think the way we played. The courage, the determination and the quality we played with today. We want to achieve the next level and to do that you have to come to these places and when there are some results yesterday, we wanted to show that conviction and desire to do it.
“You have to come to this place and you have to win. You have to find a way to do it and it was tremendous.”
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Gary Neville: ‘That was so big for Arsenal’
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville believes that the win could have a huge impact on the title race and Arsenal’s confidence.
“That was so big for Arsenal and so big for Mikel Arteta,” Neville said post-match.
“A week ago the glass was half empty and now it is more than half full. Liverpool lose and Arsenal win in stunning fashion. They deserved it.
“They were the better football team. Mikel Arteta made really good substitutions. That will give them huge confidence.”
Speaking after the game, Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka was overjoyed with the result, despite admitting frustration at some of the officiating in the game.
“Unbelievable, nothing better than a late winner in football. Speechless, I’m so happy,” Saka said.
“There are a few things we can speak about, for example the penalty. For me if we have VAR it is for a clear and obvious error and the fact that it took the ref that long to decide shows it is not a clear and obvious error.
“It is things like this that always go against us but today we got what we deserved and that’s why we are all so happy. It doesn’t matter now, does it?”
The Arsenal star who scored the crucial equaliser, Merino, said he and his teammates are ‘confident’ of their title chances.
“Winning the way we won today shows the character of the team how much we trust each other, how confident we are,” Merino said.
“That doesn’t change no matter the result. We are confident we have an amazing team, an amazing squad, amazing staff and amazing fans, so we are ready for it.”
Latest Arsenal news: Arda Guler, Kenan Yildiz updates
Meanwhile, recent reports suggest that Arsenal are one of several clubs keeping close tabs on Real Madrid attacking midfielder Arda Guler.
Scouts from Arsenal, as well as from Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, have all been at LaLiga games this season to watch Guler in action, it’s claimed.
Guler has been one of Real Madrid’s best players this season, scoring three goals and giving three assists in six starts and one substitute appearance in the league.
But with Jude Bellingham recovering from injury, he could see his minutes limited soon.
In other news, a stunning report has claimed that Arsenal have stepped up their pursuit of Juventus maestro Kenan Yildiz by making contact with the Italian giants and starting talks with his entourage.
Arsenal’s sporting director Andrea Berta has also ‘begun preliminary talks’ with the Turkish star’s agent to see if his client is open to a big-money Premier League switch.
Juve see Yildiz as one of the best attackers in Europe and it will therefore take Arsenal a minimum of €80million (£70m) to convince the Serie A titans to sell.