Newcastle 2-1 Arsenal: Superb scenes at St James’ as Rafa’s Mags secure Premier League safety

Another brilliant day at St James’ Park as Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle see off Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal to secure our place in the Premier League for another season – also sending us just two points from 8th!

Prior to today, we’d lost our last 10 in the league to Arsenal and had never won a game from behind since 2014. With Arsenal taking the lead 14 minutes in, history suggested that we wouldn’t have it in us to turn it around, but this Rafa Benitez team, full of fight and togetherness, had very different ideas.

They were pressing for a second, but we stayed in it and stood strong, being were rewarded for our efforts in the form of Ayoze Perez’s sublime front post flick. It was a clever finish, but credit must go to Shelvey for the initial ball in behind, to Gayle for the run in behind and his piece of hold up play that followed, and to Yedlin for the brilliant ball in for Perez.

We weren’t at our best today, but one thing this group always give us is 110% – and that will always give you a chance against this soft Arsenal side.

Slimani came on and caused havoc –  showing signs of being a proper centre forward with his nice blend of pace and power – and he played a big role in our winner, with his superb header guiding the ball across the box to Matt Ritchie to score what turned out to be our winner.

Diame was monstrous, Shelvey showed Southgate what his England side are missing out on, Ayoze Perez played a big part once again and Matt Ritchie made it three home goals in his last four at home, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of this NUFC side (see player ratings here).

It was another outstanding team effort and electric atmosphere at St James’ Park as a result, putting us 13 clear of the bottom 3, moving us just one points from Everton in 9th (and two from Leicester in 8th) and putting us above that magic 40-point tally.

Just look at these scenes after Ritchie’s winning goal:

Another special afternoon at St James’ Park – the day our Premier League survival was made certain.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

 

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

92 thoughts on “Newcastle 2-1 Arsenal: Superb scenes at St James’ as Rafa’s Mags secure Premier League safety

  1. Brilliant result and excellent from all the players, Diame motm , Shelvey close second but in truth they were all motm with that performance today.

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  2. Still laugh at the fact some people questioned Rafa, his signings and his decisions. Some even compared his Performance to that of Brighton and Huddersfield managers when they were ahead of us…

    Cream always rises to the top!

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  3. Stuart79:

    April 15, 2018 at 22:22

    There have never been that many criticisms of Rafa on here mate, Chroncle, yes. Some wonderings about Mitro/lack of Plan B, timing and choice of subs. Not much more though. THAT WAS PROBABLY FROM ME 🙂 I was never outright critical of Rafa, I knew he knew better and it would work out.

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  4. The other thing Rafa did was start all sorts of different lineups at the start of the season. Now we have a fixed team and won 4 in a row.

    Nobody was even critical of that. It was like – Rafa knows whet he is doing. Let’s just get on with it. Same with Perez – except on The Chronic comments section.

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  5. I think that he was rotating a lot at the start to keep players fresh and competitive Eric. With the new additions bringing such stability since arriving and less games to play he seems to be more inclined to leave it more settled . He’s always been inclined to rotate early season, I’m sure he did it with Liverpool too cause it used to drive the pool fans nuts at times.

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  6. Cheers for the write up Olly.
    I had a look at your ratings.
    Diameter had a good game but also made a couple of silly mistakes and could easily have cost us a goal with his brain fart in the 42nd minute.

    For me Pete worked really hard and looks full of confidence. Man of the match between Pete and Shelvey., who’s passing was outstanding.

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  7. That header from Slimani shows why we need somebody like him.

    Signing him a Dubravka and Kennedy would wipe out our summer budget but would be worth it.

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  8. Sham – don’t you think the budget will be higher than that? Mitro might bring in £20m plus. Gayle £15m. There’s also Mbemba, Clark, Colback and others to go.
    You could be right mate but I hope not.

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  9. Slims header and the perez back flick for Ritchie was sublime, it that was an ****, City, Manure piece of play all the pundits would be purring over it.
    Beautifully worked goal, thought Slim looked a proper handful and linked up really well with Kennedy.

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  10. I can see us getting stuck with Colback next season. I mean his wages are pretty high for a championship player.

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  11. Imagine what Shelvey could do if he had Jamie Vardy to pass to. Come on Gareth, you might want to travel to SJP. They have those big silver things in the Sky that fly out of places called airports. It takes 1 hour, yes 1 hour to get to Newcastle Airport from Heathrow. NUFC were the early game on Sunday, you could have been back in London by teatime FFS. And Danny Welbeck played so it wouldn’t have been a total waste of time since we all know you wont pick Jonjo or Lascelles anyway 🙂

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  12. Stem:
    I can see us getting stuck with Colback next season.I mean his wages are pretty high for a championship player.

    About half of a Mackem soon to be League 1 player.

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  13. There is a lie on the internet that Colback is on 70k a week. It is one of those things that get repeated so often that it becomes accepted as the truth. He is on 35k a week which is still a lot of money but affordable to clubs like Villa or West Brom. Rodwell is on 70k and not even in the squad.

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  14. The slight on NUFC this season has been that we have Championship players playing in the Premier League. Absolute bollocks. Which defense would you rather have:

    Dubravka, Yedlin, Lejeune, Lascelles, Dummett

    OR

    Cech, Chambers, Holding, Mustafi, Monreal

    Cech used to be good but now looks like a falling tree when he dives.

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  15. georgio:
    Sham – don’t you think the budget will be higher than that? Mitro might bring in £20m plus. Gayle £15m. There’s also Mbemba, Clark, Colback and others to go.
    You could be right mate but I hope not.

    Yeah mate. I reckon if Ashley is still here we will have about £30m plus sales.

    I reckon Slimani, Kennedy and Dubravka will cost us £35m.

    I don’t see us getting anything for Colback. The deal will be the buying club takes his wage but pays no fee to us.

    Gayle might stay as a squad player but would not fetch more than £10m and Mitro will go but I don’t see more than 10 to £15m for him.

    As for the others like Selz and Saint or whatever, maybe a few quid but not a lot.

    I reckon Gayle stays. So maybe if we sign Kennedy, Dubravka and Slimani we will have 10 to 20m on top to play with.

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  16. So at the end of the season toon will get over 121,000 million,bet Rafa gets the 21 jabba will take the 100 mil

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  17. Shamrock: Yeah mate. I reckon if Ashley is still here we will have about £30m plus sales.

    I reckon Slimani, Kennedy and Dubravka will cost us £35m.

    I don’t see us getting anything for Colback. The deal will be the buying club takes his wage but pays no fee to us.

    Gayle might stay as a squad player but would not fetch more than £10m and Mitro will go but I don’t see more than 10 to £15m for him.

    As for the others like Selz and Saint or whatever, maybe a few quid but not a lot.

    I reckon Gayle stays. So maybe if we sign Kennedy, Dubravka and Slimani we will have 10 to 20m on top to play with.

    I normally agree with you Shamrock but Mitro will bring in at least 20 million. More if he scores 2 or more at the WC. Gayle is almost a guarantee for any Championship team to get to the playoffs and worth 15 million to any of them with ambition. The prize is 120 million in PL TV money so it is worth the risk.

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  18. Sham, I thought you were talking about a different team with Diameter and Pete ?

    I notice Rafa is heavily linked with Arsenal now. Jabba’s got some boot licking to do imo.

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  19. Think about Pogba, 98 million. Ibe 18 million. Evans was mooted at 27 million. Sigurrdson 45 million. They wanted 20 million for Jurgenson.

    Mitro for 20 mil and Gayle for 15 mil seems cheap to me.

    I think Rooney’s valuation was 15 million in the Lukaku swap. That’s roughly 4 million kilos of potatoes.

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  20. Eric 35k is a lot of money for a championship club that has not been in the premiership for some time, let alone Sunderland 😀 I can see Icedog having a field day when he comes back. We’d definitely have to pay half his wages, prehap’s more to get rid of him. How’s he getting along at Nottingham Forrest ? I bet they wont sign him on permanent deal.

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  21. Neither Gayle nor Motor have proved themselves atbthe top level and that’s why I don’t see big money coming in for them..

    There is also the club debt, which I assume we will need to use some of the prize money to pay off..

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  22. Stuart79:
    Sham, I thought you were talking about a different team with Diameter and Pete

    I notice Rafa is heavily linked with Arsenal now. Jabba’s got some boot licking to do imo.

    If I was Rafa I would take the Arsenal job. They have 4 exceptional players: Ozil, Aubamayang, Lacazette and Ramsey. They need to fix their defense which is what Rafa is good at and he will have 200 million to do it. If they go out to Athletico there is a good chance that Wenger will be asked to leave.

    I know I have said that it is RafaNUFC but Arsenal are on a different level and he should take that opportunity. I think he turns 58 today so one last hurrah and thanks for giving NUFC some hope.

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  23. Shamrock:
    Neither Gayle nor Motor have proved themselves atbthe top level and that’s why I don’t see big money coming in for them..

    There is also the club debt, which I assume we will need to use some of the prize money to pay off..

    🙂 🙂 🙂 your autocorrect is doing double overtime today.

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  24. Stem:
    Eric 35k is a lot of money for a championship club that has not been in the premiership for some time, let alone SunderlandI can see Icedog having a field day when he comes back.We’d definitely have to pay half his wages, prehap’s more to get rid of him.How’s he getting along at Nottingham Forrest ?I bet they wont sign him on permanent deal.

    He only has 1 more year on his contract so it is not a big deal.

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  25. Sham: my guess is Mitro to West Ham for 25 million and Gayle to Villa for 15 million. You can save this and quote me later.

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  26. We should be a bit worried. Rafa might have the choice of Everton and Arsenal. I think Everton are about the same as us with a much more ambitious owner and Arsenal are the 5th richest club in the world.

    There will be a manager merry-go-round as well with PSG, Chelsea and possibly Bayern all chasing a smaller pool of elite managers.

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  27. Maybe even Real Madrid and Barca! It is not beyond the Real Madrid fuckheads to sack a club legend and 2 time Champions League winner. They have Zidane and we have Mick Quinn as legends, according to The Chronic anyway. And Lee Ryder is a literary legend.

    But I digest (must have got hold of Sham’s autocorrect).

    Neither would appoint Rafa but they could take other managers like Allegri off the market shrinking the pool even more.

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  28. Championship sides pay big money these days for players that score 20+ goals a season. Gayle would do that and so would Mitro so I expect we’d get at least £15m for them.

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  29. I am 50/50 now about whether we will keep Rafa. Mainly because of the Arsenal and Everton situations.

    But Rafa or a new manager will have about 80 million to spend.

    I agree with Icedog and Kimtoon that the Fatman will not sell, but our revenue will be 160 million and the wages less than 100 million so that gives us some serious money to spend. Probably 40 million plus sales.

    Transfers out:

    Mitro 25 million
    Gayle 15 million
    Colback 2 million
    Sels 3 million
    Darlow 5 million
    Clarke 3 million

    The Fat tw@t gave Rafa nothing this year but he did provide money in The Championship.

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  30. kimtoon:
    I don’t think he fancies being in London either Eric

    But it is Arsenal Kimtoon. A massively rich club with tradition and loyal fans no matter how they are acting now. They also aren’t that bothered about one-nil to the Arsenal scorelines so Rafa would be a perfect fit.

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  31. kimtoon:
    I don’t think he fancies being in London either Eric

    Doesn’t have to live in central London. All of the Chelsea players live in Weybridge (I know it is Arsenal we are talking about, just saying). Islington is very posh, or Hampstead or St John’s Wood – Lord’s Cricket Ground, Beatles Zebra Crossing album cover. They don’t feel like London.

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  32. Kimtoon: I lived in London and it doesn’t all have the same feel. I lived in Wimbledon and Hampstead and they are more like Ponteland than Benwell. Islington is like Jesmond. My ex-wife worked in St John’s Wood and it is very posh. Rafa would like it, leafy and you might not know you are in London.

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  33. What on Earth is going on in our country? There is a pro Assad rally in London and there are so many Labour MP’s attending it! A few are even giving speeches! Jesus Christ, man! Got help us if this lot ever got in power.

    There’s only been four people complained about the bombing of Syrians Chemical weapons. Putin, Assad Iranian President and Jeremy Corbyn! You really couldn’t make this up!

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  34. Icedog:
    Will be over 125 million if we finish 8th

    The equal tv rights gives each premiership club £84.4m and we will get £22.1m for featuring in 18 live matches and £21.1m if we finish in 10th place.
    Then we have our gate/matchday income of £25m* and commercial income of £30*
    * figures based on 2015/16 income when we were last in the premiership.
    That gives us a total income for the season of over £180m.
    I am hoping that Rafa will get a transfer budget of £50m from that and, when added to player
    sales he will have some £90m in the transfer pot.
    Wouldn’t it be nice of Mr Ashley to make that up to £100m from his own pocket.

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  35. If I were Ashley I would say to Rafa you run it.
    I have £350m invested and I want a ROI of say 5% that’s 10% of turnover. So say £18m + free Advertising. Everything else is yours.
    That would give Rafa, Maybe £50m+ from Sales and £60m+ from Turnover. That will include wages.

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  36. PremAndUp:
    If I were Ashley I would say to Rafa you run it.
    I have £350m invested and I want a ROI of say 5% that’s 10% of turnover.So say £18m + free Advertising. Everything else is yours.
    That would give Rafa, Maybe £50m+ from Sales and £60m+ from Turnover. That will include wages.

    You have to worry about Arsenal though. They have about twice the revenue/turnover of NUFC and their board let Wenger do want he wanted. It could be RafaArsenal with double the money of NUFC. He is a control freak so that might appeal. Hopefully not.

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  37. Is it really even up for debate these days that Joe Hart just isn’t in the top 3 English goalkeepers? Yet he will still go to the WC 😯

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  38. As I said earlier, Rafa can have free rein at Arsenal but he will get 200 million quid to spend and has the 4 horsemen the Arsenalapocolypse – Aubamayang, Lacazette, Ramsey and Ozil. He will never get even one of them at NUFC.

    He can probably pick up another 80 million by selling Bellerin, Mustafi and Chambers. They are **** but they still have transfer value.

    I have almost convinced myself that Arsenal will make Rafa an offer. I hope not though.

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  39. Great finish by Carroll.

    Why is Gareth Southgate whatching this game when he could have gone to watch a team who actually has some decent players at SHO yesterday.

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  40. Stuart: what are you getting yourself worked up about? You have a Tory Government. Your money is safe in their hands. All of the bus passes in the world could not make up for the way Thatcher, Major, Cameron, Blare and May have looked after their donors. Rupert Murdoch even endorsed Blair (Blare) so that tells you lot. 40 years of Tory handouts to the rich. And maybe a floppy haired idiot Eton boy next. Jobs for the boys.

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  41. And Stuart. You are the one bringing up politics again. I normally just rant about Wilshere and Rooney.

    Andy Carroll’s accent sound sort of Irish now.

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  42. And I am sorry Stuart, but you are the one that brings up politics all of the time. Rhetoric, smetoric. I just don’t understand how anybody could get upset about bus passes and also feel the need to bring it up on a NUFC blog.

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  43. Whatever though. Just keep on keeping on about how the rich pay all of the taxes and are so downtrodden.

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  44. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the rich being “downtrodden.” Maybe you can point me to where I said that? Probably the same place my comment about Mike Ashley and his asking price is… ?

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  45. The rich pay more than their fair share, bus passes are socialism. Do I need to go on…

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  46. Trying to say you didn’t make politically charged comments is not on mate. You did. It is on here. You also made the bus pass comments and have said many times that the rich pay all of the taxes . I could look it up but I can’t be bothered.

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  47. Giving free bus passes is Socialism. Selling a monopoly to Richard Branson (British Rail) is free enterprise? 🙂 I suppose giving pensioners 10 quid off their heating bill is socialism but selling British Gas to money managers is free enterprise?

    It is a long time ago but I remember when Thatcher sold British Telecom their shares went up about 40% in the 1st month. Charity for the rich but when it is charity for the poor Stuart complains.

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  48. Eric, I think you’re on some kind of mind altering drug. ?

    I didn’t deny making a “politically charged point” but I do deny saying “the rich are downtrodden.” I didn’t say that, you thought I said that. You think I say quite a lot of things that I don’t. I guess it’s a way of you arguing the point you want to argue. Just because nobody has actually said it doesn’t seem to stop you… ?

    Anyway, this blog is better when discussing points people have actually made, not what you want them to have actually said.

    Although it has to be said, I do admire Thatcher. You seem to think when you say that to me it’s an insult. It’s not I can assure you. Not to me anyway.

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  49. Well. I reckon we will never agree on Thatcher. I think she sold off the family silver at half price to her rich friends. You think she was Grocer’s daughter who just loved Ronald Reagan and Rupert Murdoch.

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  50. Stuart79:
    Eric, I think you’re on some kind of mind altering drug.

    I didn’t deny making a “politically charged point” but I do deny saying “the rich are downtrodden.” I didn’t say that, you thought I said that. You think I say quite a lot of things that I don’t. I guess it’s a way of you arguing the point you want to argue. Just because nobody has actually said it doesn’t seem to stop you…

    Anyway, this blog is better when discussing points people have actually made, not what you want them to have actually said.

    Although it has to be said, I do admire Thatcher. Youseem to think when you say that to me it’s an insult. It’s not I can assure you. Not to me anyway.

    Implied Stuart. You don’t have to say it in CAPITAL LETTERS. You can imply something and we all know where you are going with it.

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  51. Thatcher was evil personified to me, always thought the later spitting image puppets were spot on. Power went to her head as it did with Blaire in the end.

    I liked Gordon Brown, always struck me as an honest guy. His parents took in the homeless and I think that ethos rubbed off on him. Was a clever guy too, not like the failed economics student Osborne. Why in the world would you put that idiot in charge of the Economy !!!!
    The way Clegg linked up with that car crash Cameron to grab a pathetic bit of power because he hated Brown was as disgusting as it was self serving.

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  52. kimtoon:
    Thatcher was evil personified to me, always thought the later spitting image puppets were spot on. Power went to her head as it did with Blaire in the end.

    I liked Gordon Brown, always struck me as an honest guy. His parents took in the homeless and I think that ethos rubbed off on him. Was a clever guy too, not like the failed economics student Osborne. Why in the world would you put that idiot in charge of the Economy !!!!
    The way Clegg linked up with that car crash Cameron to grab a pathetic bit of power because he hated Brown was as disgusting as it was self serving.

    Kim – If you run your household like Gordon Brown run the countries finances or Jeremy Corbyn wants to run it then you’d be bankrupt and homeless within a few months. There’s an unfortunate fact that you can’t please everybody. If we want the public services that people go on about them everybody needs to pay more tax – and I mean everybody. Gordon Brown cocked it up because he was hell bent on making sure the people he perceived as lower earners should pay less and less tax. It doesn’t work. This country has one of the lowest income tax rate for the lower earners in Europe. And people wonder why public services are better in Scandinavia…

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  53. In the end they are all out for themselves whom ever grabs power, it’s taken me 57 years but I finally worked that much out.
    Perhaps we need a coalition of all parties so that they can keep one another in check.

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