Kick Off: 20:00 GMT

Location: Emirates Stadium, Islington, London

UK Broadcaster: TNT Sports

Possible Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Rice, Havertz, Odegaard; Martinelli, Trossard, Saka

Arsenal Absentees: Timber, Partey, Jesus (doubt), Zinchenko (doubt), Tomiyasu (doubt)

Arsenal Form: LWWWW

Possible Newcastle XI: Dubravka; Burn, Botman, Schar, Trippier; Miley, Guimaraes, Longstaff; Barnes, Gordon, Almiron

Newcastle Absentees: Isak (doubt), Wilson, Anderson, Joelinton, Willock (doubt), Targett, Pope

Newcastle Form: DWDWW

	Team	P		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		GD	PTS
1	Liverpool	26		11	2	0	37	11		7	4	2	26	14		18	6	2	63	25		38	60
2	Manchester City	25		9	4	0	31	11		8	1	3	27	15		17	5	3	58	26		32	56
3	Arsenal	25		9	2	1	30	11		8	2	3	28	11		17	4	4	58	22		36	55
4	Aston Villa	25		9	1	2	31	13		6	3	4	21	20		15	4	6	52	33		19	49
5	Tottenham Hotspur	25		9	0	4	26	18		5	5	2	26	20		14	5	6	52	38		14	47
6	Manchester United	25		7	1	4	18	18		7	1	5	17	16		14	2	9	35	34		1	44
7	Brighton & Hove Albion	25		6	5	1	26	15		4	3	6	22	25		10	8	7	48	40		8	38
8	Newcastle United	25		8	2	3	31	16		3	2	7	22	25		11	4	10	53	41		12	37
9	West Ham United	25		5	4	3	18	17		5	2	6	18	27		10	6	9	36	44		-8	36
10	Chelsea	25		5	3	4	20	18		5	2	6	22	23		10	5	10	42	41		1	35
11	Wolverhampton Wanderers	25		5	3	4	19	20		5	2	6	20	20		10	5	10	39	40		-1	35
12	Fulham	25		7	1	5	23	15		1	4	7	11	26		8	5	12	34	41		-7	29
13	Bournemouth	24		3	4	4	12	17		4	3	6	21	29		7	7	10	33	46		-13	28
14	Brentford	25		4	3	6	22	27		3	1	8	13	17		7	4	14	35	44		-9	25
15	Crystal Palace	25		3	3	6	15	19		3	4	6	13	25		6	7	12	28	44		-16	25
16	Nottingham Forest	25		4	3	6	19	20		2	3	7	13	24		6	6	13	32	44		-12	24
17	Everton	25		3	4	6	14	15		5	2	5	13	18		8	6	11	27	33		-6	20
18	Luton Town	25		3	2	8	19	22		2	3	7	16	29		5	5	15	35	51		-16	20
19	Burnley	25		1	2	10	13	32		2	2	8	12	23		3	4	18	25	55		-30	13
20	Sheffield United	25		2	2	9	12	36		1	2	9	10	29		3	4	18	22	65		-43	13

Arsenal return to the Emirates licking their wounds after an incredibly frustrating return to the Champions League knockout stages against Porto. A late worldie sent Arsenal back home with a goal defecit that will need making up for in the home leg, but for now, back to league action with no time to waste. Speaking of time to waste, expect a lot of this against Newcastle. In fact, you can probably expect a lot of the same against Newcastle with what we saw against Porto.

Under Eddie Howe and the Saudi Oil Regime, Newcastle have turned into one of the most awful teams to face. They, like Porto, try to play as little football as possible – especially away from home against a Top 6 club. Our ability to break down a low block will be tested here, which may end up being a good thing to practice with the looming Porto home leg, in which the most disgusting low block you will ever see will be on display.

The pressure is on Arsenal here after Liverpool smashed Luton to go 5 points clear of Arsenal – we are really coming into the crunch period of this league campaign. Man City showed some weakness against an awful Chelsea side when they dropped 2 points at home last weekend, now is the time to put the pressure on.

This will be a slow game. Newcastle will try to stop us playing. They will waste time, they will go down easily, they will try to win over the referee. It is important to stay patient, focused, composed, and all the other things that we lacked against Porto. This is a tough match to call, but I think we will see it out with a nervy 2-1 victory.