Arsenal 1 Newcastle 0 – Rice wraps up Champions League spot but Howe’s side face final-day shootout

Arsenal sealed a spot in next season’s Champions League with a victory against Newcastle United, who will have to wait for a final-day shootout to find out their European plans.

Declan Rice swept in a wonderful strike from outside the area to give the home side three points at the Emirates Stadium and all but confirm a third successive runner-up finish.

Newcastle were without Alexander Isak, who has attracted interest from Arsenal, so Callum Wilson started up front but struggled to convince. Newcastle’s back-three formation did cause some issues for Mikel Arteta’s team before they found a way through.

Both goalkeepers were made important saves. Nick Pope spread himself wide to block a header before David Raya reacted quickly to palm away a close-range strike, the standout among other important stops from the Arsenal ‘keeper.

Here, James McNicholas, Chris Waugh and Anantaajith Raghuraman break down the action.

What does this mean for the European places?

And so the Champions League race will go the distance…

The Premier League title and the relegation places have long been wrapped up, and Arsenal will almost definitely finish second, but the three remaining Champions League qualifying spots remain undecided and five teams who are separated by one point can still occupy them come the end of the campaign.

Due to their strong goal difference (+22), Newcastle remain in control of their fate, and a victory at home against Everton on Sunday will see a return to Europe’s premier competition following a one-season absence.

But that will not prevent it from being an extremely stressful Sunday afternoon for Newcastle fans — and for the supporters of the other four clubs involved.

Manchester City’s game in hand is at home against Bournemouth on Tuesday, before they travel to Fulham on the final day, when Aston Villa are at Manchester United, who seem to have basically conceded their league campaign already. Nottingham Forest also take on Chelsea at the City Ground, meaning only one of those two direct rivals can overtake Newcastle.

Newcastle already have the Carabao Cup in their trophy cabinet, but they desperately want Champions League football to go with it. Just as they were before kick-off at the Emirates, they are still one victory away.

Chris Waugh

How should we view second place for Arsenal in the Premier League?

Opposition fans have spent the last few weeks taunting Arsenal with chants of “second again”. While there is understandable disappointment at Arsenal about their failure to win the Premier League, being on track for another top-two finish is arguably a mark of consistency.

This 1-0 win ensured that Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa cannot overhaul Arsenal on the final day of the Premier League season. Manchester City’s game in hand means they can, but it would require a big goal difference swing. It also guaranteed Arsenal a place in next season’s Champions League — vital for the club’s finances and reputation.

Only one other side in Premier League history has previously achieved — or suffered, depending on how you see it — three consecutive second-place finishes. That was also Arsenal, between 1999 and 2001.

The following year, Arsene Wenger’s team went on to win a domestic double. The onus is on Arteta to follow up in similar fashion, and avoid being remembered as merely ‘nearly men’.

James McNicholas

Raya’s wondersave and first-half heroics

This week, it was announced Raya will change squad number for 2025-26, moving from No 22 to become Arsenal’s literal No 1.

There will be no dispute over that: the Spanish goalkeeper has been one of Arsenal’s better performers this season, and underlined that with a string of first-half saves to keep the tie level. He made one brilliant stop to deny a deflected effort from Harvey Barnes, as well as a fantastic double-save to deny Dan Burn and Sven Botman.

That’s not the first time this season Raya has demonstrated lightning-quick reflexes to make two saves in succession. Last season, he impressed with his command of the penalty box and distribution. Since then, he’s added game-changing saves to his repertoire.

That’s not to say he has been perfect: in recent weeks, an uncharacteristic sloppiness has crept into his passing. Twice in the first half, he gave the ball away in dangerous situations. As Arsenal’s Premier League campaign has petered out, Raya’s focus appears to have slipped somewhat — but fortunately his reactions remain intact.

Raya makes a quick reaction save against Newcastle (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

James McNicholas

What did Wilson show up front?

The conspiracy theorists were vocal once the Newcastle XI was confirmed. Just two days after Eddie Howe admitted his “frustration” that his best players keep being linked with Arsenal, despite Newcastle developing into direct rivals for European places, Isak was absent from the side.

Another “minor” groin problem — the Sweden international has suffered from several this season — ruled him out at the last minute, according to Howe, meaning Wilson made only his second league start of the season and merely his third in 17 months.

William Osula, the 21-year-old forward, is exciting but raw and is not yet trusted to lead the line on such occasions. Wilson may have lost some of his pace, while he has failed to show the real threat of old during another injury-ravaged campaign, but Howe has faith in the 33-year-old to execute the game plan.

During a first half in which Newcastle produced 10 shots, five of them on target, and an expected goals (xG) tally of 1.2, Wilson did not manage a single effort on goal — in fact, he didn’t manage a shot in the whole of 64 minutes on the pitch. Of his 15 first-half touches, four were in the box and, while he laid on a couple of good chances for team-mates, including one for Bruno Guimaraes, he does not carry the same threat as Isak.

Few players in world football do. Isak has scored 27 goals this season, including at the Emirates in January in the Carabao Cup. William Saliba will have been particularly relieved that it was Wilson and not Isak starting, given how much the Swede has terrorised him across the campaign.

Wilson has been excellent for Newcastle and, although Howe may be tempted to prolong his partnership with the player, this game provided further evidence that another forward is required this summer.

Chris Waugh

How did Arsenal cope with Newcastle’s back three this time?

For the second consecutive time against Arsenal after the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg, Howe named three centre-backs in his starting XI. Newcastle held a 2-0 lead heading into that game and the move was viewed as defensive but Howe’s strategy was to get Fabian Schar to push high into midfield to hassle Rice.

Newcastle used a similar strategy this time, with Sandro Tonali and Guimaraes marking Martin Odegaard and Thomas Partey when Raya had the ball. It limited Arsenal’s avenues for progression and forced a few errant passes from Raya. When Arsenal got past the halfway line, Newcastle dropped into a 5-4-1 with no space between the lines to exploit.

Arsenal tried a couple of strategies to deal with it in the first half. Bukayo Saka occasionally drifted into a central area while Leandro Trossard dropped deep. On another occasion, Trossard shifted wide and Martinelli dropped deep, dragging Botman with him, before spinning and sprinting, with Raya passing long down the middle. The issue Arsenal faced here was that Schar and Dan Burn were aerially superior to Martinelli and the drifting Saka, making life easy for Newcastle.

Guimaraes was dominant in the first half against Arsenal (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Arsenal’s best-case scenario was if Newcastle gave away the ball with a poor long pass or in their own half, leaving their midfielders in defensive positions and allowing Partey or Rice to receive without pressure. That was enabled in the second half by Riccardo Calafiori coming on for Saliba. While Saliba often hung back to monitor Wilson in the first half, Calafiori and Jakub Kiwior were much more aggressive with pushing up the pitch in the second half. One such moment led to Arsenal winning the ball in Newcastle territory and set up Rice’s goal.

With the game state in their favour, Arsenal grew in confidence. Raya’s long passes to bypass Newcastle’s press were more accurate. Tino Livramento inverting from left-back had caused Arsenal a myriad of issues in the first half but Arsenal gave him — as well as Guimaraes and Tonali — limited space to operate in by falling into a solid defensive shape. Newcastle had no shots between the 38th and 75th minutes.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

What next for Arsenal?

Sunday, May 25: Southampton (Away), Premier League, 4pm UK, 11am ET

What next for Newcastle?

Sunday, May 25: Everton (Home), Premier League, 4pm UK, 11am ET

(Top photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

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