Isak's Newcastle winner dents Arsenal's title bid
Alexander Isak headed Newcastle United to its first Premier League win in five games as it beat Arsenal 1-0 to dent the Gunners’ title hopes.
The decisive moment came in the 12th minute when Isak combined with Anthony Gordon, heading the ball into the roof of the net to continue his fine form at St. James’ Park.
Arsenal rarely threatened throughout, registering just one shot on target, which came in the first half when Mikel Merino saw his effort blocked on the line by Lewis Hall.
Isak threatened a second for the hosts on the hour mark, but his attempt stung the palms of David Raya, while Declan Rice’s deflected strike narrowly evaded the far post just under a minute later.
The win moved Newcastle into eighth place in the table, while Arsenal remains third and thankful that Manchester City was upset by Bournemouth later in the day.
But that would be of scant consolation to Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, who was left frustrated by the result.
"We deserved to lose today," he said. "I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn't defend the box well enough.
"Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.
"Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn't do that well enough. I am very frustrated.
"We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn't play the game that we wanted."
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, meanwhile, was delighted with the performance of his side.
"You have to be really strong mentality and know results will turn if you continue to do the right things," Howe said.
"It has been a difficult week with the fixtures, but the players have done really well.
"There was a better feeling in training after the Chelsea win, as if pressure lifted slightly.
"Today's performance was built on hard work, desire and a lot of really good defending in the second half. I thought we looked good."
