Good afternoon and welcome to our live text coverage of the Premier League match between Newcastle and Arsenal from St James' Park. The home side enter this game in a rich vein of form that has given them a new lease of life in the relegation battle despite still being in 17th. In April, they beat both Burnley and West Ham, while securing draws with Spurs and Liverpool. Arsenal, on the other hand, are currently in 11th and only won two out of seven games last month. We will be bringing you all the build-up, highlights and talking points from the match tonight, so stay tuned ahead of kick-off at 14:00.
Premier League / Matchday 34
St James' Park / 02.05.2021
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- M. Elneny(6')
- P. Aubameyang(66')
Live
Live Updates
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Updated 02/05/2021 at 15:00 GMT
No Joe Willock on super sub duties for Newcastle today of course...
Mohamed Elneny celebrates scoring Arsenal's opening goal this afternoon and his first ever Premier League goal.
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Image credit: Getty Images
End of 1st Half
45+2'
HALF-TIME: Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal
A lacklustre first half from the Magpies were predictable in the attacking play and very reliant on Saint-Maximin. Arsenal were dominant and free-flowing, but may rue not scoring more than just the one goal with Aubameyang looking off the pace and not providing much of a focal point.
45'
CHANCE! Rare opportunity for Newcastle with a corner but Wilson sends his header over the bar.
43'
Odegaard has his heels clipped by Almiron then stands over the consequent free-kick. His effort is blocked by the Newcastle wall though.
37'
The corner finds Luiz making a run through the middle of the area, but he can't control his header and it simply loops up into Dubravka's hands slightly wide of the goal.
36'
Murphy is having a difficult time trying to defend against Martinelli. The Brazilian races past him then has his cross turned away by Fernandez for a corner.
31'
Almiron catches Ceballos from behind with the feintest of touches, but the Arsenal midfielder's reaction is very dramatic as he goes down clutching his leg and that convinces the referee to give Almiron a card.
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Yellow card
M. Almirón
Newcastle United
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Yellow Cards1
Fouls1
Fouls against1
29'
SAVED THEN OFF THE LINE!! Arsenal go close twice.
Xhaka has a shot from range pushed out for a corner by Dubravka, then Willian's corner is headed goalwards by Elneny. Fernandez heading it off the line is the only thing that comes between the Egyptian and a second goal.
24'
Willian darts in a low first-time cross and Aubameyang connects with it poorly, basically directing it the opposite direction to the goal. He's not looked on it at all today!
20'
Xhaka - again deployed as a makeshift left-back - catches Saint-Maximin late, thus becoming the first name to enter the referee's book. I'd be very surprised if Newcastle didn't target him this afternoon.
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Yellow card
G. Xhaka
Arsenal
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Yellow Cards1
Fouls1
Fouls against1
Free Kicks1
18'
CLOSE! After a sluggish start, Newcastle are enjoying a better spell now. Ritchie finds Saint-Maximin on the edge of the box, who has a tricky looping effort tipped over by Ryan. At first glance it looked like he scuffed that one!
12'
Wilson's fouled by Gabriel out wide and Ritchie takes the free-kick, but Fernandez's header is cleared away by Xhaka.
8'
Mazy run forward from Saint-Maximin, but after laying the ball off to Ritchie, the resulting cross is poor and swept up by Ryan in the Arsenal goal.
5'
GOAL!!! Arsenal take an early lead!
David Luiz picks out Bellerin on the right flank. He then pulls it back to Aubameyang, who mistimes his effort, which falls to Elneny for a volley into the bottom corner and his first ever Premier League goal!
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Goal
M. Elneny
Arsenal
Goals1
On target1
3'
Xhaka crosses the ball into the box and Aubameyang can't get it under control, so it rolls out for a goal kick.
1st Half
14:00
KICK-OFF: And we're underway!
13:50
STEVE BRUCE IN?
Bruce has been unpopular on Tyneside pretty much since he was first appointed, but the strong run of recent form seems to have done little to change fans' mind about him.
Is he really the main problem at St James' Park?