Anthony Gordon’s controversial Newcastle winner ends Arsenal’s unbeaten start
Anthony Gordon scored a controversial winner for Newcastle against Arsenal (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Anthony Gordon’s controversial second-half winner clinched Newcastle a 1-0 win against Arsenal, whose unbeaten Premier League start was halted at St James’ Park.
Gordon’s close-range finish was confirmed as a goal after a triple VAR check and was all that separated the two sides in an attritional encounter of few chances.
The Gunners slipped to their first defeat in 11 league games this season, while victory for Newcastle was affirmation that they can continue to mix it with the big guns.
Arsenal remain third in the table, two points behind new leaders Manchester City, with Newcastle four points adrift in sixth.
After a scrappy opening 15 minutes, Arsenal began to build momentum, but after forcing a series of corners had only Jorginho’s skied volley and William Saliba’s wayward header to show for their efforts.
Newcastle had barely threatened before Callum Wilson blazed Dan Burns’ knockdown over the crossbar from in front of goal in the 29th minute.
An intense physical first half was low on quality and littered with full-blooded challenges, one of which raised the home fans to fever pitch as Kai Havertz’s late lunge sent Sean Longstaff sprawling.
That sparked a players’ melee that took referee Stuart Atwell some time to control, with Havertz, Longstaff and Anthony Gordon eventually shown yellow cards.
Furious Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall made clear to the Arsenal bench what he thought of Havertz’s mis-timed challenge.
A third Newcastle player, Fabian Schar, was booked soon after to the wrath of Magpies fans.
Arsenal threatened to on the stroke of half-time, but Gabriel Martinelli’s fierce drive was comfortably held by Nick
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