Loss leaves Arsenal boss frustrated

NEWCASTLE, England — Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was disheartened with how his team performed in a 1-0 loss to Newcastle on Saturday — a potential blow to its Premier League title chase — saying it was sucked into playing Newcastle's style of game.

Alexander Isak headed home in the 12th minute in Newcastle's first win in six league games, leaving Arsenal fourth in the Premier League table behind Liverpool, which beat Brighton 2-1, and Manchester City, which lost to Bournemouth, on Saturday.

Arteta's side generated few chances on an afternoon that saw it register its second consecutive away loss in the league for the first time since May 2022. It was shocked by Bournemouth in a 2-0 loss on Oct 19.

"We deserved to lose today," Arteta told Premier League Productions.

"I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn't defend the box well enough. Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.

"Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt, and we didn't do that well enough.

"We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly, and we couldn't play the game that we wanted."

Newcastle defender Lewis Hall threw his body in front of Arsenal's lone shot on target, blocking Mikel Merino's volley from close range in the first half. Declan Rice squandered a terrific chance in injury time, latching on to a cross, but firing it wide of the net.

"We had two big chances — Mikel had a big one, Declan had a big one. We lacked answers," Arteta said.

His squad is winless in its last three Premier League matches.

"We can say whatever we want. We will struggle to find the words today. We have to show it on the pitch on Wednesday night (against Inter Milan in the Champions League)."

Arsenal has pushed Pep Guardiola's City hard in each of the past two seasons and appeared to be well-equipped for another title challenge, but the gap already looks alarmingly big.

"We didn't find enough answers to a lot of the questions and situations that you have to resolve better," Arteta told TNT Sports. "So I'm very frustrated."

Isak breakthrough

The injury-hit visitor, still missing play making captain Martin Odegaard, started brightly enough at St James' Park, with Leandro Trossard dragging the ball wide.

But, the home side, which had not won for five league matches, quickly settled into its stride, and Sweden forward Isak got between Gabriel and William Saliba to head home from Anthony Gordon's exquisite cross.

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka lacked his usual penetration, heading just wide in the 18th minute after leaping above his marker.

Hall blocked Merino's shot on the line after a Rice corner caused chaos, but Arsenal lacked rhythm and failed to match the intensity shown by the home side.

Newcastle came close to doubling its lead almost immediately after halftime, with Joe Willock's shot saved by David Raya.

Arteta threw on 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and Oleksandr Zinchenko just after the hour mark.

Isak fired another shot at Raya, which the Arsenal keeper parried away, before Rice muscled his way into the Newcastle area and flashed a shot wide.

Arteta made further changes, introducing defender Ben White and forward Gabriel Jesus in a desperate push for an equalizer.

Arsenal squandered a golden chance to level when Rice headed just wide from a Saka cross in stoppage time.

The win lifted Eddie Howe's Newcastle to ninth in the table.

Howe described it as a "massive win against a really good team".

"We've drawn against Manchester City here, beaten Arsenal, beaten Tottenham," he said.

"So there's a lot of positives. But, then you look at the other side, we've been slightly inconsistent. There have been games that we've probably left points on the pitch, so we need to put it together."

The result leaves Arsenal seven points adrift, as Liverpool returned to the top of the table after a 2-1 win at home to Brighton.

Ferdi Kadioglu put the visitor ahead after just 14 minutes, but Liverpool turned the game around with two quick-fire goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah in the second half.

Arteta's men can take some comfort, though, as Manchester City's bad week continued with a 2-1 defeat in Bournemouth.

Antoine Semenyo put the home side ahead after just nine minutes and Evanilson doubled its lead in the 64th. Josko Gvardiol pulled a goal back for City with eight minutes left, but Andoni Iraola's men held on to take all three points.

Agencies