3 crucial factors that could decide the outcome of Arsenal vs Newcastle United

#1 The Gunners' midfield

For Arsenal to win at Newcastle, Xhaka has to excel

The Arsenal have stuck with the same midfield personnel for the first four games of the season with Guendouzi and Xhaka given the starts as the deep-lying duo. While Xhaka’s performances have been hot and cold so far, Guendouzi impressed the Gunners faithful with his tenacity and fearless approach.

There have been calls for Emery to drop Xhaka and give Lucas Torreira, who was impressive whenever called upon from the bench, a start. However, the head coach might persist with Xhaka given his ability to dictate the play from the deep. With his penetrative passing range and ability to control the play from the deep, Xhaka will be vital against Newcastle, who play with 5 at the back. Torreira will be tasked to add steel to the back four.

The Magpies will try to suffocate the Arsenal attackers by doubling on them. The Gunners’ attack goes AWOL when they don’t see the ball often and for Arsenal to have any sort of impact in the final third of the play, the midfield duo of Xhaka and Torreira have to find the attackers constantly and in spaces where they can do maximum damage.