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There we go then. Newcastle have won four in a row – a brilliant run for them and one that currently looks like nailing them a top-half place. Relegation is no longer a concern. Arsenal may have other priorities but Burnley, in seventh, are only two points behind them and they won’t want to take their eye off the ball too any more times. They might consider a draw would have been fair here but didn’t really turn up creatively in the second half and were punished. Newcastle, high in tempo and thrust, punished them.
That’s all from me – join Rob Smyth for Manchester United v West Brom!
Full-time: Newcastle 2-1 Arsenal
A roar goes up! That’s a huge win for Newcastle – they are definitely, incontrovertibly safe!
90+2 min: Slimani gets a booking, I think for timewasting. Nobody really minds. Kenedy bashes a Monreal cross away and a Welbeck blast is blocked. Then Joselu wins a free-kick on halfway and that may more or less be that ...
90+1 min: We have three minutes of added time to play ...
90 min: Newcastle are close now and their stadium is thumping with nervous energy. Arsenal are undercooking a few of their passes and don’t really look crisp enough for a breakthrough. That getting-the-ball-to-the-strikers issue has actually been a thing in this half.
88 min: It’s all Arsenal probing now, trying to pick a way through, but Newcastle look solid on the whole.
86 min: Murphy replaces Ritchie for Newcastle, while young striker Nketiah is on for Iwobi.
85 min: That’s a half-sight for Arsenal, Iwobi denied very well by a sliding defender ... before Dubravka flaps at a high ball and Lacazette, recovering quickly, smacks wide when Welbeck is screaming for it.
83 min: They do win a corner though, which Xhaka outswings from the left. It’s low, miscued and deeply disappointing – just like Elneny’s subsequent 35-yard pot shot, which was never on at all.
82 min: Maitland-Niles wins a fun chase down the left with Slimani. Arsenal are, in general, pushing Newcastle back a bit now though – without really threatening.
79 min: Maitland-Niles replaces Chambers for Arsenal, while Newcastle bring Joselu on for Perez.
77 min: Another Newcastle chance! Slimani, brilliant since he came on, powers down the left, beats Mustafi and lays off to Perez, who doesn’t quite get control of the ball at an angle and eventually slides to put it wide of the near post.
77 min: Dubravka is out confidently to claim a Xhaka corner. No real response from Arsenal yet.
75 min: ... Kenedy hits the bar! He’s sprung clear again by a neat interplay with Slimani and his effort, deflected by a lunging defender, loops up onto the frame and away. That could have been that!
74 min: Kenedy breaks down the left and for a moment looks as if he might tee up Perez in the middle, but he shows too much of the ball to Holding, and then ...
72 min: What have Arsenal got now, I wonder. Their away form has been so insipid for most of the season. Not that they’ve been bad today, especially given the changes – I must admit the goal from Ritchie came out of the blue. But they don’t really want to give Burnley, in seventh, too much encouragement by losing here. If they lost to Atletico *and* lost sixth ...
Goal! Newcastle 2-1 Arsenal (Ritchie 68)
That came from nowhere! Slimani leaps to win one header, then launches himself to power into another, and Perez leaves the ball astutely to give Ritchie space inside the area. He finishes confidently with his weaker right foot and Newcastle are ahead!
68 min: Willock, tidy on his top-flight bow, is replaced by that guy Welbeck.
67 min: Decent dig from Iwobi, who can’t find Lacazette with his first attempt but gets the ball straight back and smashes low from 20 yards. It doesn’t go far wide of Dubravka’s near post.
65 min: Good early touches from Slimani, the second seeing him blocked by Mustafi. He’s had injury issues since joining from Leicester but is now fit and should give them some interesting presence in the last 25. Ritchie blasts over from range during these musings.
63 min: A change for Newcastle now, with Gayle – who has worked very hard and did well for the goal – replaced by Slimani.
61 min: “One of the ways that Benítez has out-tacticked Wenger is to shove people up against Elneny, who’s been hemmed in and has had nothing like the influence he’s had over his last couple of games,” notes Charles Antaki. “It’s true that Willock has been no help, but as the commentators keep telling us, he’s only 13.”
A late Ritchie challenge on Monreal temporarily raises the volume, meanwhile.
58 min: Maybe this game needs Welbz. Excellent goal from him on Thursday, in fairness. I was sitting yards from it and he looked so strong in the move leading up to it. The finish, too, was superb.
56 min: Those Perez spurts aside there really isn’t a lot going on, though Aubameyang heads a deep Chambers delivery across goal only for a black & white shirt to stop it reaching Lacazette.
53 min: Perez spurns another decent position after another fine Shelvey pass from range, allowing Mustafi to beat him in a winnable one-on-one.
51 min: An excellent Diame interception sends Perez scurrying away into some gaping space in the Arsenal half, but he never really gets his head up despite men dashing up to support and Xhaka gets back to dispossess him before any trouble can unfold.
50 min: Scrappy stuff at the moment, Arsenal snatching at a few things in their own half but Newcastle not putting a lot together when they get the ball.
47 min: It’s mainly Arsenal possession early on, a Monreal cross eventually being defended before Iwobi is penalised for handball.
Peeeep! We are back underway
Another goal or two in this one, I reckon.
“If Jonjo Shelvey can cause this many problems with through balls to Dwight Gayle, imagine what he could do playing with Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford. Are we really going to pass up that option for the sake of Henderson, Dier and Livermore?” asks Shaun Wilkinson.
It’s an interesting question. Is there sometimes too much focus on what Shelvey *doesn’t* do?
Half-time: Newcastle 1-1 Arsenal
That is indeed the half and it’s been enjoyable. We’ve seen very nice goals from Lacazette and Perez, both the results of excellent passes from 60 yards or so back, and a flurry of other activity on top. Arsenal should probably have put away one of the chances they created in the five minutes before half-time, but it’s a good scrap and we’ll see much more of it in 15 minutes. Back shortly!
45 min: Nearing half-time now. It’s been a fun half, better than I’d expected to be honest.
42 min: And that should definitely be 2-1! Elneny forces an error from Diame and now Lacazette has a run towards the area with men either side. He could even have a crack at goal himself but instead passes left to Willock, who misses his shot completely. Elneny, coming up on the other side, was in an even better position to score.
41 min: Now Chambers gets a free header from a Xhaka corner, and might do better than head over once he meets it.
39 min: ... which should lead to a second goal. Aubameyang puts the free-kick into the wall but Xhaka picks the ball back up and chips it to the far post where ... I think ... Mustafi is stationed to head across. He does so and Chambers, running in from an almost identical position to Lacazette earlier, slices well wide!