Newcastle United vs Arsenal 11/08/19
11 August 2019
Arsenal travel to St. James Park to take on Newcastle United in their opening 2019-20 Premier League clash.
With none of Newcastle’s five pre-season games ending in a stalemate (W3, L2) and four of those matches producing over 2.5 goals, the hosts play unapologetically. Still, both of their defeats this summer have come against the English teams and seen Newcastle concede over 1.5 match goals. Newcastle’s disastrous H2H record against Arsenal over the past eight years should also worry Steve Bruce (W1, L12), with seven of those losses seeing the Magpies fail to find the net. Moreover, the Tynesiders’ lack of creativity in the final third has seen them score just 42 goals last season – league’s fifth-worst record.
Meanwhile, the visitors have been dealing with the same old problems throughout the summer, having kept just two clean sheets in seven pre-season games, allowing two or more goals per match three times in the process. Another worrying fact for the traveling side is that they struggled to preserve a blank sheet in 18 of 19 PL away games last season that was the worst record in the English top tier. But, regular on the scoresheet over the past few months, the Gunners have found the net in each of their last 13 outings, scoring 2+ match goals eight times along the way.
Just two of the last six H2Hs between these two sides have produced over 2.5 goals and seen both teams score, with three of the remaining four clashes ending with the same 1-0 scoreline in Arsenal’s favor.