A 96th-minute Gabriel header saw us come from behind to beat Newcastle United late on, having trailed with six minutes to go as we claimed a big early-season three points.
Having found ourselves behind thanks to Nick Woltemade’s opener, Mikel Merino came back to haunt his former club by grabbing us an equaliser to seemingly ensure we left with something to show for our efforts.
Before then we had seen a penalty overturned by VAR after Nick Pope had brought down Viktor Gyokeres, who then went onto have an excellent game between the posts by making a string of saves as he seemed set to be the Magpies’ hero.
However in the dying seconds, Gabriel rose highest to head in a Martin Odegaard corner to end our losing run on Tyneside and close the gap to Liverpool at the top of the table to two points.
Read more
Highlights: Newcastle United 1-2 Arsenal
Tough start
The Magpies had won four of their last five games against us in all competitions on their own turf, but despite that poor recent record against them, we began firing on all cylinders.
Gyokeres saw a flicked header fly straight to Pope before Eberechi Eze tested his international teammate when he drilled a shot towards the bottom corner, but the Magpies custodian did well to get down and divert it past the post.
But the first major flashpoint arrived on 13 minutes. Bukayo Saka pressured Jacob Murphy into a loose backpass, which was seized upon by Gyokeres who attempted to round Pope but was tripped by the goalkeeper. Referee Jarred Gillett pointed to the spot, but VAR suggested that Pope got the slightest touch to the ball, and at the end of a four-minute delay, the decision was overturned.
Undeterred, we continued to be the more threatening side. A sweeping end-to-end move that involved Saka and Rice saw the ball drop to Leandro Trossard inside the box but the in-form Belgian cracked a shot against the post, and Eze smashed a half-volley from the edge of the area through a packed penalty area but Pope flung himself across his line to push it away.
The Newcastle shot-stopper was the most overworked player in the opening 30 minutes and he was called upon to beat away a Saka shot after our captain sped down the right and let fly, however despite us having dominated our opponents during an encouraging opening half, they managed to get in front on 34 minutes.
A wayward pass back to David Raya by Cristhian Mosquera saw us concede a corner, and allowed Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon to utilise a short corner routine. The Italian crossed into the box and the 6’6” Woltemade nudged Gabriel in the back to make space for himself and head into the net to give the hosts the advantage going into the break.
Lifted by grabbing the lead, the Magpies started the second half brightly and second into it Woltemade struck the crossbar but the offside flag went up, while Joelinton flashed a shot cross the face of goal and saw it whistle just past the far upright.
Read more
Arteta on late Newcastle win: “What a moment!”
THE COMEBACK
But Pope was in inspired form and he made his best stop of the game on 58 minutes when a deft pass over the top by Martin Zubimendi found Jurrien Timber in behind the backline and he seemed destined to score with a header but somehow Pope reacted quickly enough to flick it away.
The Magpies had kept four clean sheets on their opening five games heading into this one and thanks to Pope, it looked as though their defence would be adding to that record. But six minutes from time, he was eventually beaten.
Once again a short corner routine came up trumps. In almost identical fashion to Newcastle’s opener, Martin Odegaard and Rice linked up and the latter whipped a cross into the box for substitute Merino to nudge towards the target, and the ball kissed the post before deceiving Pope to get us back on level terms.
And just as it looked like we’d be forced to settle for a draw, in the 96th minute some more set-piece magic saw Odegaard whip a fine cross into the box and Big Gabi got the telling touch to snatch a dramatic win.
Read more
Saka feels we made a statement with Newcastle win
Facts and stats
This was the second-latest that we have trailed in a Premier League game and gone on to win (equalised in 84th minute), after their 3-1 win over Norwich City in April 2013, when the equalising goal was converted by Mikel Arteta in the 85th minute.
We scored as many goals between the 84th minute and full time today (2) as we had netted in their previous four Premier League games away to Newcastle combined (2).
Timed at 95:45, we scored their second-latest winning goal in a Premier League away game on record (since 2003/04), only behind Declan Rice’s winner at Luton in December 2023 (96:23).
This was the first time since April 2023 that we had trailed at half-time in consecutive Premier League matches (0-1 v both Man City & Newcastle). However, we have only lost two of their eight league matches in 2025 in which they’ve been behind at the break (W3 D3).
We scored our 35th and 36th goals from corners in the Premier League since the start of the 2023/24 season, which is now 15 more than any other side in this period (21 for Chelsea and Tottenham).
Nick Woltemade became the sixth Newcastle player to score in his first two Premier League home games for the club, after Moussa Sissoko (2013), Papiss Cisse (2012), Daniel Cordone (2000), Alan Shearer (1996) and Les Ferdinand (1995).
Mikel Merino is our top scorer across both all competitions (9) and the Premier League only (7) in 2025. Four of his nine goals this year have been scored with his head, with no Premier League player netting more headers in this period.
Since joining us ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, Declan Rice has assisted more goals from set plays (10) than any other player in the Premier League.
Read more
Every word from Arteta’s post-Newcastle presser
What’s next
We have two matches at Emirates Stadium next week – on Wednesday we host Olympiacos in the Champions League, before West Ham United head to N5 on Saturday in a traditional 3pm kick-off. Then comes the second international break of the season.
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.