Newcastle United were absolutely thrashed at Arsenal on Saturday night.
Eddie Howe’s side were second best at pretty much everything at the Emirates Stadium, which proved a far cry from how Newcastle operated against the Gunners back in November. To say they were well beaten would be a huge understatement.
While Joe Willock’s goal upon his long-awaited return from an injury was a positive, everything else proved a tough watch. At times in the opening 45 minutes, it seemed like we were just waiting for Arsenal to score again.
Blown away in the first-half and simply unable to deal with set-pieces throughout, Newcastle looked some way off a Premier League title challenger once again.
As you might imagine, Howe did not look happy…
Arsenal vs Newcastle: Eddie Howe reaction
Indeed, Aaron Stokes of The Chronicle on X (formerly Twitter) noticed that Howe looked “absolutely raging on the sidelines”.
Arsenal vs Newcastle: Awful performance for Eddie Howe
Newcastle were simply not at the races on Saturday evening.
Losing at Arsenal can happen. Both Liverpool and Manchester City have done that this season, so there’s no great shame in dropping points.
Still, the manner in which they did it was shocking. Arsenal looked better in every department, toying with Newcastle in the first-half and unlucky not to have scored more. Defensively, it was a shambles from pretty much the very first minute.
Last season, even in the games Newcastle lost, they at least put up a big challenge for the most part. To not have even laid a glove on Arsenal says so much about how far the club has to go if they are going to challenge for meaningful trophies any time soon.
The quest to qualify for Europe looks difficult. If it’s going to be at all possible, things need to improve. And quicky.
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