Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal – 3 talking points as Gunners’ unbeaten start comes to an end

Arsenal succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle at St. James’ Park as the Gunners’ unbeaten start to the season is now over.

Well, it took 11 games, but Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season is over after a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle and Anthony Gordon’s second-half goal.

The Gunners did a good job of calming the storm in the first half, with both Bruno Guimaraes and Kai Havertz both lucky to still be on the pitch.

The first half never really got going, but in the second half, things kicked off and not in a good way for Arsenal. As Gordon poked home from close range to give the home side the lead, but with several issues to deal with, the VAR check lasted over four minutes.

There were several questions: did the ball go out? Was there offside and a push in the back of Gabriel? All of which were answered, and the goal was given.

Try as they might, Arsenal couldn’t break down a stubborn Newcastle defense and was left to walk away from the clash suffering its first league defeat of the season.

The game provided plenty of talking points. Here they are.

VAR again causes controversy

Okay, there is a lot to dissect here, and let’s be objective, shall we?

Looking to see if Willock kept the ball in. Now, everyone has seen the angles, and Bein Sports showed that the WHOLE ball didn’t cross all of the line. Meh, we can take that (sort of), but what about the lack of pressing to Willock after he was on the ball and driving towards the box?

Next, the push in the back on Gabriel is clear for most to see and should have been a foul, and if it was any other area of the pitch, it’s a foul. And some thought Gordon was offside and will argue for weeks about it.

Arsenal went 0/3 on those VAR challenges. But that aside, Arsenal still had plenty of chances to win the game, but VAR, again, remains the headline for another woeful performance.

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