In a chaotic and eventual showdown at St. James’ Park, Newcastle United looked like they’d done just enough to get the better of Arsenal.
That was until Mikel Arteta’s battling Gunners mounted an extremely late comeback to turn around a contest that was 1-0 in the Magpies’ favour on the 84th minute mark to an incredible 2-1 win courtesy of Mikel Merino being the goalscoring hero once more, before Gabriel then sealed all three points at the death.
Truthfully, Eddie Howe’s hosts were dancing dangerously when it came to holding onto that one-goal upper hand, with lady luck arguably on their side even before Nick Woltemade’s opener when VAR overturned a penalty kick for the away side.
Still, their luck had very much run out come the full-time whistle, with several underperformers letting Howe down on the big occasion to leave the Magpies stuck on a meagre one win in the early Premier League standings.
Newcastle's biggest underperformers vs Arsenal
On another day, the hosts might well have held onto a share of the points, but Nick Pope’s rash kick in a bid to start a counterattack with very few minutes remaining on the clock aided Arsenal’s late comeback, as an eventual corner beat the ex-Burnley keeper.
Of course, without Pope in between the sticks, full stop, Newcastle would have succumbed to a far heavier loss, with the 33-year-old making five saves in total, but he won’t want to watch back his costly goal kick anytime soon.
Away from Pope, Anthony Gordon also struggled after being reinstated into the starting lineup, with the number 10 only managing an unmemorable 30 touches of the ball before being hauled off by Howe.
Joelinton also wasn’t at his dependable best, arguably, with the forceful Brazilian going on to win just three of his 15 duels in the frenetic affair.
But, there was one underperformer – in particular – who stood out like a sore thumb throughout, who will now surely be ditched by Howe for his side’s upcoming Champions League trip to Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
Howe got it wrong starting 6/10 Newcastle star
While Arsenal didn’t have it all their own way during the tight clash, they did routinely gain a lot of joy down the left-hand side through Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber.
Indeed, the pair managed to successfully register six dribbles between them, with the Dutchman and the Englishman growing in confidence knowing they didn’t have the most formidable foe in front of them in Dan Burn, who was drafted out to the left for this clash, a decision which Howe must now rue.
Before touching on his troubling display up against Saka and Timber, Burn was also uncharacteristically beaten in the air for Gabriel’s 97th-minute winner, with his 6-foot-7 frame not giving him an advantage on this occasion.
Away from the last-gasp winner exposing one of the colossus’ lesser-known weaknesses, Burn also never looked at ease with the ball at his feet, when shoved out to the left flank, with his wayward passing throughout just one element of his out-of-sorts game that must have made Howe regret selecting him in that role.
Minutes played
90
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Touches
56
Accurate passes
15/32 (47%)
Possession lost
26x
Dribbled past
3x
Total duels won
8/20
It was very much an evening all round to forget for the Blyth-born battler, with only 47% of his passes on the St James’ turf reaching their intended target, which led to Burn lackadaisically surrendering possession a whopping 26 times.
To make matters worse, it wasn’t just his aerial clash with the Gunners six that saw him be surprisingly outmuscled, with only eight of his 20 duels being won.
Saka also gained a lot of joy out of Burn when bombing forward, with the former Brighton and Hove Albion defender falling victim to being dribbled past three times in total to really ramp up his horrendous afternoon.
Newcastle World’s Jordan Cronin might well have been feeling generous when gifting Burn a 6/10 rating after the match, but even he would state that the long-standing servant looked “largely out of place” as a left-back option.
Howe will have been given plenty to chew over after his side collapsed to a late defeat, with Burn just one player in isolation who will now be fearful of the chop for the trip to Belgium on Wednesday night.