Four winners and two losers as Arsenal beat Newcastle to go top of the Premier League

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Arsenal beat Newcastle United on Saturday evening, but, once again, this wasn’t a match for the ages.

Indeed, this was a tight 1-0 win decided by a wondergoal from Eberechi Eze, and, aside from that, Arsenal didn’t create a lot else.

However, at this stage of the season, the three points are all that matter, and Arsenal did enough to win here.

After this victory, we’ve compiled our winners and losers from this match.

Winners

Eberechi Eze

Showed once again he’s the man for the big moments at the end of a season, almost scored a cracker against Manchester City last week, produced an even better strike here.

If Arsenal are to win the Premier League, Eze will have a huge part to play – so long as he returns quickly from injury.

David Raya

Fantastic again, distribution was spot on, made some sharp saves during the game too – particularly from Sandro Tonali from range.

Continues to stake his claim for being the best goalkeeper in the Premier League

Nicolas Jover

Proved that he’s not a one-trick pony from corners.

All season Arsenal have relied on balls into the back post from their dead-ball situations, but they showed today that they have a short corner routine that can cause all sorts of problems and lead to goals.

Bukayo Saka

Arguably the biggest winner from this game, back from injury and almost made an impact the first time he got the ball.

Saka’s return is massive for Arsenal, and could ultimately be a turning point in the title race.

Losers

Kai Havertz

Once again, the only thing stopping Kai Havertz from being a star for Arsenal is Kai Havertz himself.

Injuries have plagued the German for 18 months at this point, and he was subbed off again today after half an hour.

Sadly, as Arsenal fans know only too well, sometimes you have to make tough decisions on injury-prone players, and Havertz is slipping into that bracket.

William Saliba

Described as ‘uncomfortable’ by Gary Neville on commentary at one point. Saliba didn’t have his best game once again.

The Frenchman is going through one of the shakier spells in his Arsenal career, and he needs to rediscover his best form if Arsenal are going to win the Premier League.