How Arsenal rallied from a goal down to beat Newcastle away from home, climb to second place on league table

Gabriel Magalhães scored a 96th-minute winner as Arsenal sealed a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory over Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Sunday.

In a match dominated by set pieces, headers from Mikel Merino and Gabriel overturned Nick Woltemade’s first-half strike to fire the Gunners up to second place in the Premier League.

According to theanalyst.com, the result also closed the gap on leaders Liverpool, who had slipped up in a 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace the previous day.

Arsenal began brightly, with Eberechi Eze forcing Nick Pope into an early save.

They thought they had a penalty when Viktor Gyökeres was brought down after latching onto Jacob Murphy’s misplaced backpass, but VAR showed Pope got a touch on the ball and referee Jarred Gillett reversed his decision.

The visitors continued to push forward and went close through Leandro Trossard, who struck the near post from a Declan Rice pass.

Yet it was Newcastle who struck first, capitalising on Arsenal’s sloppy play. Sandro Tonali’s short corner was met by Woltemade, whose header beat David Raya to give the hosts the lead against the run of play.

Arsenal went into the break trailing 1-0 in back-to-back league matches for the first time since April 2023. But Mikel Arteta’s half-time change, bringing on William Saliba, shifted the momentum.

The Gunners dominated possession after the restart, with Jurriën Timber and Eze both denied by Pope, while Rice thwarted Murphy from doubling Newcastle’s lead.

The breakthrough finally came with 18 minutes left. From another short corner, Rice whipped in a dangerous cross and Merino rose to glance his header in off the far post.

Arsenal’s pressure told deep into stoppage time when Gabriel powered home the decisive header from a set piece to complete a dramatic turnaround.

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