Newcastle showed exactly why they deserve to be in the top three of the Premier League as they held Arsenal to a 0-0 stalemate at the Emirates.
The Gunners move eight points clear of Manchester City after the latest result, whilst keeping the Toon as far as nine points behind. Whilst we had gone into the game going in search of the win, our rivals proved to be too tough to break down, and deserved their share of the spoils.
We started brightly as you would expect, but we were not allowed much space in the final third, much to the credit of the visiting side. Despite our dominance in possession, we could only muster the single shot on target in the opening half, with our rivals matching that with an effort on the break.
We tried to up the tempo after the break, and we really began to pile the pressure on. We were making clever runs to get in behind, but struggled to find that final ball, although we at least managed to test the goalkeeper a little more in the second-half.
The most excitement came in the dying minutes of the game however, when Granit Xhaka ran past his man in the box before firing in a cross, with the defender turning away from the ball whilst sticking out an arm to block the effort, but VAR failed to make a key decision, and we were forced to settle for the 0-0 draw.
It certainly wasn’t the result we were looking for, but it definitely wasn’t one which will hurt us currently. The draw is fair in all honesty, but what is telling is that this team is one to worry about in the coming years.
Patrick