Newcastle United are desperate for a victory and defeating an elite opponent would be a major turning point.
Newcastle United will look to entertain their home supporters at St. James’ Park this Saturday when they return to action against Arsenal. Both clubs have had poor starts to the 2018-19 campaign, but Newcastle are the more desperate side.
Arsenal have taken six points from four matches (2-0-2) while Newcastle are currently in the bottom three with one point from four matches (0-1-3). A victory against any opponent would be much appreciated at the moment, but claiming three points against Arsenal would be significant for the following reasons.
Elite Opponent
Arsenal will be the fourth elite opponent that Newcastle will play in the first month of the season. Newcastle stood their ground against Tottenham, and played well defensively against Chelsea and Manchester City. Newcastle did lose all three of those matches, but they only managed to lose by one goal.
Rafa Benitez shed some light on his tactical preparation for this weekend and the Spaniard is ready to play attacking football against the Gunners. If Newcastle can emulate their performance against Tottenham, they will cause problems for Arsenal and could earn their first victory of the campaign. Newcastle need a win and as a result of their hard work against other English giants, the Magpies are worthy of a positive result sooner rather than later.
Confidence
A victory against Arsenal could very well transform Newcastle into a confident side that could string together a good run of form. The Magpies’ poor start to the season was expected from the second the Premier League schedule was announced, however, poor starts do not mean much.
A perfect example of a club that struggled early on and then earned a high mid-table finish is Crystal Palace last season. Confidence can take a team a long way and we all witnessed the resurgence of Newcastle last season as they went undefeated in the early months of 2018.
Furthermore, seeing that Newcastle will have plenty of lenient matches coming up in October, a positive result against a top team would serve as great motivation to defeat mediocre opponents on a regular basis. Not only would Newcastle gain confidence, in general, they would also force future opponents to play cautious football at St. James’ Park.