During a year as a Newcastle midfielder under Rafael Benítez, Mikel Merino struggled to settle in the north-east and departed for Real Sociedad without offering Tynesiders more than a few glimpses of his best work.
Much to Eddie Howe’s chagrin, Merino jogged a few memories here as, seven years after leaving St James’ Park, he trotted on as an Arsenal substitute and promptly headed a vital equaliser.
It created the springboard for the stoppage time winner from Gabriel Magalhães that, in ending Arsenal’s run of three straight defeats at St James’ Park, went an awful long way to repairing Mikel Arteta’s hitherto rapidly deteriorating humour.
Not to mention that maybe, just maybe Arteta’s side are made of the stuff of potential champions after all. Having fallen behind to Nick Woltemade’s opener, an earlier version of Arteta’s Arsenal might have surrendered in the face of Newcastle’s ferocious press but, this time, they finally refused to be defeated here.
Arteta had predicted it was “going to be physical” and, sure enough, an abrasive tone was set as, Joelinton looked fortunate to escape a yellow card following a robust early challenge on Bukayo Saka. Arsenal, though, were not about to be intimidated and started well, with Nick Pope doing well to turn Eberechi Eze’s half volley around a post.
Newcastle supporters had feared the worst since it became clear that, rather than deploying a back five, Eddie Howe had opted for a four, featuring Dan Burn’s reincarnation as a left-back. Burn’s form at centre-half has offered him a pathway into the England squad but he was never quite as assured at full back and now he was up against Saka.
Pope found himself one on one against Viktor Gyökeres and, in real time, appeared to have conceded a clear penalty after sending the Sweden striker crashing in the area. Yet when VAR intervened and the referee, Jarred Gillett, spent an unusually long time watching the incident on repeat on the pitch side monitor, doubt crept in.
Slow motion replays indicated Pope had got an initial touch on the ball before his intervention inevitably prefaced the collision that brought forward down. Given that, in kicking the ball straight at the keeper, Gyökeres had invited contract the incident divided opinion but to say Arteta was aggrieved seems an understatement. As Arsenal’s manager applauded sarcastically, Howe looked suitably relieved.
Despite doing their bit to create, and maintain, an exhaustingly high tempo, his side were living dangerously, most notably when Leandro Trossard hit the woodwork and Eze drew another stellar save from Pope after unleashing a vicious volley. Significantly, Eze, operating as a No 10, was enjoying plenty of room for manoeuvre.
Relatively little had been seen of Woltemade until Newcastle won a 34th minute corner. They elected to play it short with Sandro Tonali proceeding to exchange passes with Anthony Gordon before crossing for the £70m Germany forward to rise above all comers and head the second goal of his Newcastle career.
As David Raya pointed to the fallen Gabriel and complained of a foul from Woltemade in the preamble, Howe and his assistant Jason Tindall embraced Martin Mark, their new (ish) set-piece coach for a dead ball routine evidently well rehearsed on the training ground.
Arteta was left to make a forlorn plea for a VAR review but replays indicated Woltemade’s little nudge on Gabriel had been of the lightest touch, most fleeting variety. No matter; Gabriel subsequently shoved the 6ft 6in centre forward off the ball and Woltemade responded by refusing an offer to shake hands from the Arsenal defender. It was that sort of game.
At this stage, with a visceral, almost feral, energy rolling down from the stands, Newcastle were pressing their guests into submission. With Woltemade’s excellent, adhesive ability to hold the ball up now serving them well no one was pining for the Liverpool defector otherwise known as Alexander Isak any more.
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Meanwhile Tonali was paying Eze such assiduous attention he threatened to suffocate him and Burn had Saka on an unexpectedly tight rein.
The only question was how long could Howe’s side keep the relentless pace up; when might they burn out? How long could they shut Eze down for?
When William Saliba, who replaced Cristhian Mosquera in central defence for Arsenal at half-time, erred Woltemade seemed set to double Newcastle’s advantage but his finish was sliced and struck the crossbar following Jacob Murphy’s cross. The German was probably relieved that an offside flag against Murphy dictated that miss proved academic.
Yet as Eze suddenly began ghosting into space again and the crowd grew edgy, Newcastle’s lead looked almost painfully slender. When Eze wrongfooted Howe’s backline and Martín Zubimendi dinked a clever pass towards Jurriën Timber, it took another strong save on Pope’s part to keep the full-back’s header out.
It proved the cue for Howe to introduce Kieran Trippier’s experience as he switched to a back five. That quintet was soon altered when Tino Livramento went down with a worrying looking knee injury and the England full-back was stretchered off to be replaced by Jamaal Lascelles.
That rearguard had n answer when Arsenal played a short corner routine of their own and Declan Rice swung a cross in the direction of the substitute Merino, who having dodged Sven Botman, directed an unstoppable header past Pope to score against his former club.
Newcastle thought they should have had a penalty when Anthony Elanga’s cross struck Gabriel’s arm but, a VAR review concluded the opposite and Tindall was booked for his protestations.
Instead Arsenal would be left celebrating as if they had just won the league itself when, with Pope stranded after opting to attempt to punch clear, Gabriel headed Martin Ødegaard’s stoppage time corner into the empty net.
