Martin Odegaard helped to keep alive Arsenal’s fading Premier League title hopes as they came through the sternest of tests to dent Newcastle’s bid for Champions League football.
The Norway international’s 14th-minute strike, his fifth goal in as many games, coupled with Fabian Schar’s unfortunate own goal, secured a priceless 2-0 victory at St James’ Park and dragged the Gunners back to within a point of Manchester City, although the leaders still have a game in hand.
That a full-blooded encounter yielded just two goals was testament to the excellence of England goalkeepers Nick Pope and Aaron Ramsdale, who each made a string of fine saves, although both needed the help of the woodwork, in the latter’s case on two occasions.
For the Magpies, who saw an early penalty decision in their favour overturned, a fifth defeat of the campaign left them looking over their shoulders with Liverpool and Brighton pushing hard in the race for a top-four finish.
Having laboured out of the blocks against Southampton seven days earlier, they knew they could not afford a repeat and with strikers Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak starting together for the first time, they went for the Gunners from the off.
Jacob Murphy was unfortunate to see a second-minute shot come back off the foot of a post after he had cut inside from Joe Willock’s cross with Ramsdale beaten, and it took a solid block by Ben White to repel Isak’s attempt seconds later.
Arsenal were rocking and looked to be in trouble when referee Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot after defender Jakub Kiwior appeared to block Bruno Guimaraes’ shot with his hand, only for the official to change his mind after being advised to review the incident.
The locals among a crowd of 52,267 were still voicing their discontent when Odegaard was given time and space on the edge of the box to fire a left-foot drive past the helpless Pope to give the visitors the lead against the run of play.
However, the Gunners grew into the game and Pope had to save from Gabriel Martinelli and Odegaard in quick succession and then denied Bukayo Saka one-on-one after he had been played in by Granit Xhaka.
Ramsdale had to save from Willock after he had run on to Wilson’s clever ball around the corner as the game continued at frenetic pace with the Magpies redoubling their efforts.
Martinelli fired across the face of goal and Pope denied Odegaard with his feet deep into stoppage time at the end of an increasingly fractious opening 45 minutes.
Ramsdale had to come to the visitors’ rescue once again within four minutes of the restart when, after Isak’s header had hit a post, he clawed away Schar’s attempt, but it was Pope who was grateful for the woodwork as Martinelli saw his 51st-minute shot thump against the bar.
There was no let-up in the breathless pace of the game as play switched rapidly from end to end, although Guimaraes failed to extend Ramsdale after being set up by Joelinton with 27 minutes remaining.
The Gunners nudged themselves further ahead 19 minutes from time when Martinelli’s driven cross ricocheted past Pope off Schar and into the net.
A deflated Newcastle fought all the way to the whistle for a way back into the game with Ramsdale tipping away substitute Allan Saint-Maximin’s raking stoppage-time strike, but Arsenal held impressively firm to see out time.
Bournemouth defeat a big blow for Ipswich, concedes McKenna
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna conceded the nature of his team's dramatic 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth is a 'big blow' for his players.
The Tractor Boys looked on course for their first home victory in the top flight since 2002 after Conor Chaplin put them in front in the first-half.
The home side kept Bournemouth at bay for the majority of the match but late goals from Enes Unal and Dango Ouattara saw his side lose for the third successive match, leaving them 18th and four points adrift of Crystal Palace above them.
McKenna believed his side deserved better but admitted his players have been left impacted by the nature of the defeat.
"It's an extremely disappointed dressing room," he told BBC Sport.
"I thought it was a good performance with some outstanding performances. Conceding late changes the momentum, and then they go and grab a second."
Bournemouth made four substitutions before McKenna made his first sub of the match but the Northern Irishman was adamant that reinforcements were not needed at the time.
He said: "The game was in such a good place, we normally make subs earlier but we were doing well. We weren't giving away too much and we were getting stronger.
"It's a big blow but the group is working so well. We've had a disappointing week but we are working hard and competing with teams."
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola was delighted with the impact of his substitutes as they helped the Cherries to a third successive league win.
He told BBC Sport: "The subs gave us the end product that we were missing. We were arriving in the right places but not finishing.
"They finished well, we were almost in desperation mode at that point. We didn't have much structure and it was just about trying to get something."
Victory leaves Iraola's men just three points off Manchester City, who occupy fourth place, but the Spaniard insists it is not the time to be looking at the table.
"I don't think we have to look at the standings, it's too early," he said.
"The most important thing is trying to win and then we see how many points we can get by the midway point."
Leicester's 'character' in Brighton comeback delights Van Nistelrooy
Leicester boss Ruud Van Nistelrooy was delighted with the character of his side as they came from behind to draw with Brighton and continue his unbeaten start as manager.
Brighton looked to be cruising to an away victory after goals from Tariq Lamptey and Yankuba Minteh handed them a two-goal lead heading into the final five minutes.
But the Foxes fought back, as Jamie Vardy grabbed a goal before setting up Bobby De Cordova-Reid to equalise in second half stoppage time.
The result saw the Foxes move above Crystal Palace in the Premier League table and into 16th, building a five-point gap between themselves and the bottom three.
And speaking after the game, Van Nistelrooy was pleased with his side's desire in their late fightback, lauding his team's ability to "getting the pressure right".
In his post-match press conference, he said: "Coming back from 2-0 down is a great show of character. But I have to say I enjoyed the second half of this team.
"In the second half, we got the pressure right, putting them under pressure, winning the duels in their half, keeping the ball and chasing the 1-1."
Despite just gaining one point in comparison to the 3-1 victory over West Ham in his first game, Van Nistelrooy believes this was an improved performance.
“We were realistic after the West Ham game," he said.
"We were very effective in scoring three goals but we let West Ham in way too much. We acknowledged it. Today the performance was way better than Tuesday, in that sense.
"We controlled the game and put a lot of pressure on Brighton, who are one of the best footballing sides in this league."
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, meanwhile, was disappointed his side let their two-goal lead slip so late on in the game.
The Seagulls have now failed to win two of the last three top-flight games in which they have led by 2+ goals (W1 D2) - as many as their previous 40 beforehand (W38 D2).
There were positives for the Brighton boss, however, as 10 of their outfielders who started this match either registered a shot or created a chance, with Georgino Rutter the only starting player to not do so.
And amid Hurzeler's disappointment, he believes that his side's latest setback will stand them in good stead moving forward.
"It’s just football sometimes. We have to learn from it because we have experienced it this season, and we need to be more mature and finish off the games," Hurzeler said.
"We have to trust the process, and we will reflect on this and look at the positives. A big part is game management. We have to improve."
Odegaard: Arsenal 'didn't do enough' in Fulham draw
Martin Odegaard conceded Arsenal "didn't do enough" against Fulham, as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage.
The Gunners missed the chance to move within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool, whose showdown with Everton was postponed on Saturday due to adverse weather conditions.
Mikel Arteta's side controlled large periods of the contest, enjoying three-quarters of the possession, but had to settle for a share of the spoils after William Saliba cancelled out Raul Jimenez's opener.
Bukayo Saka saw a late header ruled out for offside following a VAR review, but Odegaard acknowledged Arsenal required more to get the job done.
"We dominated most of the game," he told Sky Sports. "The first half wasn't great. We were a bit sloppy and lacked energy and power.
"The second half was a lot better. It's frustrating not to win. We were close in the end with the goal.
"They're a good team. They know how to defend. A solid block. We didn't do enough today. We have to learn from that and go straight back in for the next one.
"We did a lot of good things. We have to do more and put the ball in the box more times, maybe, be a bit more direct and aggressive. We could have won it in the end.
"It's a very long way to go. We've said hundreds of times, we have to keep going game by game. We have to focus on ourselves. We don't care about the other teams [in the title race]."
Meanwhile, Marco Silva felt Fulham could have been better, but saluted the commitment and fighting spirit demonstrated by his side, who have now suffered just one defeat in their last seven games.
"The first thing is to praise the players for their commitment," the Cottagers boss said. "On the ball, it wasn't the game we like to play normally. The weather conditions weren't the best. They are really strong in the pressure.
"In some moments, we should have kept the ball. Not many chances [for Arsenal] I think were good chances. We knew they'd start the second half strongly.
"I'd like to see us making better decisions because we had some good moments to punish them more, but they equalised.
"Second half, I felt the energy wasn't there because, when you have so much time without the ball, you need fresh legs. Overall, the commitment and fighting spirit was really good."
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