Arsenal post impressive win at Newcastle, keep title hopes alive

Arsenal made it back-to-back wins to keep the pressure on Manchester City by beating third-place Newcastle United 2-0 at St. James’ Park on Sunday.

Martin Odegaard scored early and a late Fabian Schar own goal helped salt away the three points as Arsenal pulled back within a point of leaders Man City, who have played one fewer match.

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Arsenal had slumped in recent weeks but now have consecutive two-goal wins after adding the win at Newcastle to a 3-1 midweek win over Chelsea. Can they finish the season strongly and push City all the way?

Newcastle’s 65 points through 35 games are two more than fourth-place Manchester United, who play West Ham at 2pm ET Sunday.

Martin Odegaard: What a player. Fifteen goals and seven assists put him seventh in goal contributions amongst Premier League players.

Granit Xhaka: Newcastle fans will hate reading this, but the supreme pest was all over the pitch and had the Magpies off their game at times.

Nick Pope: Five saves on the day, three of them point blank, to keep the Magpies in the match.

Aaron Ramsdale: Five saves as well. Arsenal’s keeper kept control of his area late as Newcastle won the xG battle but couldn’t find a goal.

The Gunners were under fire early at a boisterous St. James’ Park but weathered the storm and truly had been the better team — if only by a bit — over 45 minutes.

The second half saw Arsenal play a smart, dedicated game with and without the ball. This wasn’t a show of pure superiority, but that’s not going to happen often at SJP against top-four Newcastle.

Aaron Ramsdale made four saves and Jakub Kiwior joined Gabriel Magalhaes in keeping things tight at the back. Once the Gunners went ahead, it was old