All eyes return to the English Premier League this weekend after the midweek EFL Cup games, and everyone will be watching as Newcastle United host Arsenal at St James’ Park on Saturday evening.
Newcastle United will be coming into the game with lots of confidence after they impressively beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in a repeat of last season’s EFL Cup final.
Arsenal, on the other hand, crashed out of the EFL Cup as they fell to a disappointing 3-1 defeat to West Ham United despite being the more dominant side throughout the game.
Newcastle United vs Arsenal
Saturday 4th November, 18:30
St James’ Park
After a poor start to their season which saw them lose three of their opening four games, Newcastle United have turned it around in recent weeks with results that have seen them climb up to sixth place going into this match.
Largely thanks to an 8-0 demolition of Sheffield United, Newcastle are also joint top scorers in the Premier League with 26 goals in just 10 games. Strikers Callum Wilson and Aleksander Isak have also contributed their fair share of goals despite them sharing the minutes as the sole striker in the team, with both the strikers scoring more than a goal every ninety minutes. Wilson is scoring once every 61 minutes in the league and sits on seven goals, while Isak has six at a rate of one every 83 minutes.
While still impressive in the defensive areas, with just 11 goals conceded in 10 games, Newcastle will be hoping to get back to their record of conceding less than one goal a game from last season which saw them concede just 33 across the 38 games.
Arsenal had yet to lose in domestic competition prior to their loss against West Ham during the midweek fixtures, and they’ll be hoping they can put this right with a win against Newcastle. While they may have now lost in the cup, they do still find themselves one of two sides to remain unbeaten in the league, with the other being North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
A brilliant attacking and defensive unit, this Arsenal side have the joint best goal difference in the long alongside Manchester City. The goals may be largely spread out across the team, with no player scoring more than five in the league, but this increased defensive ability can certainly be attributed to Declan Rice’s superb form since joining the Gunners. 2 goals and an assist in the attacking areas are just an added bonus in this man’s fantastic defensive abilities as this man’s 3.7 tackles and interceptions per game have helped to stabilise Arsenal’s defence.
Bet9ja Tips
Both sides are coming into this game on good form and we expect this one to be a hard-fought encounter between two top sides. However, with the backing of the St James’ Park crowd we can see Newcastle being especially fired up for this one and end up victorious and you can get odds of this to happen of 2.78 at Bet9ja.
Callum Wilson was rested from the start against Manchester United, although did come on later into the game, and so we fully expect him to start this one. With the form he has been in this season we can see the striker scoring yet again, and you can get odds of Wilson to score anytime of 2.80.
Bet9ja Odds (at time of writing): Newcastle United win: 2.78, Draw: 3.35, Arsenal win: 2.55
