Arsenal making a habit of late goals: Gunners’ dramatic win at Newcastle a good sign for Premier League, UCL

Arsenal may have done it the hard way but the Gunners made up ground in the Premier League title race on Sunday, coming from behind to win 2-1 at Newcastle United as late goals and set pieces continue to be their trademark game-winning habits.

The Gunners were essentially the dominant side from start to finish but had to deal with an ironic patch of adversity at St. James‘ Park – they played 50 minutes down 1-0, Newcastle scoring off a set piece as Sandro Tonali connected with new signing Nick Woltemade in the 34th minute. The Magpies then transitioned into an uber-defensive game plan that many have maligned Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal for being overly reliant on, the game playing out in the most predictable fashion for the better part of an hour.

Eddie Howe’s side clung onto their 1-0 advantage as best as they could, ceding possession to the visitors while welcoming nine shots at their goal while they had the lead. They matched that with a showing on the other end that was expectedly paltry, taking just two shots for 50 minutes and not posting a single on target, mustering up just 0.12 expected goals along the way. There is a sentiment that this is a tried-and-true strategy no matter the quality of the players on the pitch, a signal that a manager is the ultimate pragmatist in a line of work that is ultimately more about results than style points. And yet, the sport’s most sensible approach did not pay off.

Arsenal clawed their way back into the game in the 84th minute with Mikel Merino’s goal, a reward for their consistent pressure near Newcastle’s goal. By the time Merino’s strike landed in the back of the net, the Gunners had 18 shots and 1.29 expected goals to show for it, the goal an accurate reflection of their efforts up until that point. The game-winner in the 96th minute saw them go back to the basics – the simple set piece, this time with Martin Odegaard‘s inswinging ball meeting Gabriel’s head for the winning goal.

Liverpool may be more famed for their late goals this season but Arsenal are not far behind, notching their equalizer against Manchester CIty last week in stoppage time and scoring both of their goals in a 2-0 win at Athletic Club on Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League after the 70th minute. A substitute played a major role in each of those matches – Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard each nabbed a goal and an assist in Bilbao, Eberechi Eze assisted Gabriel’s equalizer against City off the bench, while Merino and Odegaard made their mark off the bench on Sunday.

The high-impact substitutions are proof of concept of Arsenal’s aggressive transfer strategy in recent years, one in which the team has spared no expense lining up depth to bail them out of situations just like the one they were in on Sunday. It now puts them just two points behind Liverpool, who are still the league leaders despite their loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday, and ensures they are very much still in the title race at this early stage of the season. There are still plenty of questions to ask about who exactly makes up Arsenal’s first-choice attacking unit – Trossard took just one shot on Sunday while Bukayo Saka‘s two shots added up to just 0.06 expected goals, while Viktor Gyokeres’ three Premier League goals so far came against teams currently in the bottom half of the table.

Arsenal’s late surge, though, means Arteta can kick the can down the road on those queries, at least for the time being.