LONDON: Eddie Howe has refused to be drawn on whether Newcastle United are in a title race despite bloodying the noses of top-of-the-table Arsenal.
The Magpies kept their sixth clean sheet in succession, making it nearly nine hours of football since they conceded a goal — back on Nov. 6, 2021 — which is even more incredible because Premier League leaders Arsenal had scored in all 16 games of this campaign.
United frustrated the Gunners, who could have stretched 10 points clear at the top with a win, but also didn’t produce their best performance, according to Howe.
These latest heroics have led many to continue to talk Newcastle up as possible title contenders, especially having only lost once, and continuing to have the best defense in the league. Howe, though, is still refusing to go there.
Speaking from the Emirates, the head coach said: “There is no race from our perspective. It is just about being the best team that we can be on a continued basis.
Focus on improving
“We need to improve, we are working hard every day to do that with the players that we have. That is our main goal.
“We wanted to attack the game, we wanted to be ourselves. I don’t think we quite were — but I think that is credit to Arsenal. They forced us to play a little deeper than we normally do.
“Sometimes you have to do that in these games, you have to slightly tweak the way you play to stay in the match. We did that and I think the players deserve lots of credit for coming through that test.
“The next step for us is to have some more quality. There were some loose passes and touches that broke those attacks down.
“We are looking to evolve and improve all parts of our game.”
Howe made just one change to the United side, with Callum Wilson restored to the frontline in place of Chris Wood who started the game on the back foot.
While Newcastle had not conceded in the five games prior to the trip to the Emirates, they were cut open at will by a rampant Arsenal side in the opening exchanges.
After some penalty box pinball the ball fell to the man you’d least like it to in Martin Odegaard, however the in-form Norwegian volleyed over the top of Nick Pope’s bar. Pope then had to be sharp to deny Bukayo Saka’s cross-goal effort with his outstretched right leg.
At the other end, Wilson mustered the Magpies’ first effort on goal but England teammate Aaron Ramsdale was more than equal to it.
United got to grips with the pace of the game as the half wore on but were still caused all kinds of problems by the speed of Saka down the Newcastle left and movement of the likes of Eddie Nketiah, Odegaard and others through the middle.
Defense holds against Gunners
However, their resolute defense — the best in the Premier League this season — held firm to go in at the break level, although Joelinton should have put them in front from just over five meters after a Kieran Trippier corner was flicked on by Fabian Schar, only for the Brazilian to somehow head over with the goal at his mercy.
While the first 45 saw United show a limited version of themselves, more keen to keep Arsenal at bay, they came out with renewed vigor, showing greater belief in the final third.
That bravery was almost rewarded when Joelinton closed down Ramsdale in typical fashion, forcing the keeper into an error and while the ball wouldn’t fall kindly for a Miguel Almiron or Sean Longstaff effort, the Paraguayan recycled and pulled back for Wilson, who couldn’t quite connect with a fizzing cross.
As was to be expected, momentum then switched in favor of the hosts as Saka again enjoyed some success down the Arsenal right, despite Joelinton doubling up on the England winger to help struggling Dan Burn out.
Pressure continued to build without any real chances being created until Gabriel Martinelli rose highest at the front post to flick wide with Pope stranded.
Again Pope had to be at his usual sharp best to deny Nketiah a late winner as the ball deflected through into his path but his low finish was turned away by the keeper.
Arsenal had a penalty call turned down in the final minute of added time when the ball hit Jacob Murphy’s arm, but was not deemed to be an infringement. “At that stage of the game you are just thinking ‘please no, the lads have given so much to the game.’ That would’ve been a travesty for us,” Howe said of the late penalty shout.
“I didn’t think it was a penalty, just because of the proximity. But you just never know.” That incident enraged Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, which saw Howe uncharacteristically clash with the Spaniard on the touchline.
On the Arteta incident, he added with a smile: “With me and Mikel, yeah it was fine.”
Transfer window
While this stands out as probably United’s best result of the campaign, Howe still sees room for improvement — and what better way to do that than dive into the January transfer market.
Speaking about possible additions, Howe said: “At the moment we are taking it day-by-day. We have got a strong team and a strong group of players who are giving everything. But we will assess what we need as we go through. January is a long month.
“There is certainly no intention to imminently improve the squad, but that could change.”
On the return of Dubravka and the absence of stand-in Loris Karius, Howe said: “Martin’s situation is that he wanted to come back, and we were delighted to welcome him back.
“There was never an issue between me and Martin. He’s a top goalkeeper, and I’m delighted to welcome him back to the squad.”
On ex-Liverpool keeper Karius, he added: “There’s no update on Loris.”
