When Arsenal took to the field at St. James' Park on Sunday, they did so in the knowledge that Liverpool had been beaten by a late winner against Crystal Palace and the Gunners would therefore get to within two points of the Reds if they could win the fixture against Newcastle.
Having lost the last three fixtures in all competitions on Tyneside without scoring, even getting a draw appeared to be a tall order.
What's more, if Gunners fans were looking for bad omens, Arsenal hadn't won their last two away matches when captain for the day, Bukayo Saka, led the team in place of Martin Odegaard: 2-2 vs Man City in September 2024, 0-1 vs Newcastle in November 2024.
Strong start from Arsenal
Mikel Arteta's side certainly didn't allow any negative thinking to cloud their preparations for the match, and the visitors came flying out of the blocks with three shots at goal - two on target - in the opening six minutes of the game.
A brief respite as Malick Thiaw and Sandro Tonali did their best to stem the flow didn't last long, with Eberechi Eze and Riccardo Calafiori particularly involved for the Gunners.
Despite also having the lion's share of possession, they were unable to stop a brilliant Nick Woltemade header (from Tonali's cross) finding the target just after the half hour - only the sixth time in history a Newcastle player has scored in his first two home games.
It would turn out to be the German centre-forward's only attempt on or off target in the game, but with an hour still to play, there was plenty of time for the visitors to get back into the match.
History against the Gunners after going behind
Importantly, the Magpies had avoided defeat in their previous eight Premier League matches when scoring first.
Furthermore, given Arsenal's poor recent record at St. James' Park as well as the fact they hadn't won any of their last five Premier League games when conceding first, there were reasons to believe it could be Newcastle's day again.
By half-time, Declan Rice had been the busiest player on the pitch, and with 22 touches in the opposition box, it was fairly clear that, despite not scoring, it was Arsenal that were making all the running in the game.
That was due in no small part to their excellence when passing the ball around.
Just as Newcastle had endured having to chase shadows against Barcelona, so they were forced to do so again, with Martin Zubimendi particularly impressive (90% passing accuracy).
Again, it was the visitors in the ascendancy after the break, with four shots at goal and 76.7% possession in the 15 minutes leading up to the hour mark.
Their inability to get on the scoresheet was down to a great individual performance by Nick Pope, who had already pulled off five saves to deny a rampant Arsenal side.
Dan Burn deserves great credit too, winning 100% of his tackles on the day whilst also making one interception and six clearances.
Merino to the rescue
Along with Thiaw's eight clearances and 11 more from Sven Botman, it was turning into a gutsy defensive display from the Magpies, and one which the Geordie faithful clearly appreciated.
Rice continued his one-man assault on the home side, and as the game eased into the latter stages, no one had recorded more successful passes (57) or had more touches of the ball (75) than the effervescent England international.
As the match entered the final minutes, Viktor Gyokeres can count himself unlucky that none of his six shots ended in a goal.
However, just as all was seemingly lost, Arsenal sub Mikel Merino glanced a header past Pope after a peach of a cross from Rice for his first Premier League goal of the season.
That also made him the North Londoners' top scorer in the English top-flight in 2025 with seven goals in total.
Gabriel breaks Newcastle hearts
With six minutes plus injury-time still to play, there was every chance the Gunners could find a winner if they remained on the front foot. They did just that.
From a 96th-minute corner, Gabriel rose highest to power home the winner with his first goal since November 2024 against West Ham.
To put the importance of that goal into some context, Arsenal hadn't won after trailing at half-time in the Premier League since March 4th, 2023, against Bournemouth (13 games).
Eddie Howe will undoubtedly be disappointed by the end result, though he only needs to look at how much busier his opponents were as to why it was they and not the Magpies who earned the three points.
Jurrien Timber, for example, shone once again. He was involved in 17 one-on-one duels, winning six on the ground. He also had the third most shots in the opposition box and the fourth most touches.
Newcastle just weren't at the races as an attacking force, and just three shots on target at home will force Howe and the backroom staff back to the drawing board.
Catch up on all the match stats from Arsenal's win here.
