Arsenal performance against Newcastle praised by Gary Neville

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville was full of praise for Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal team after their 2-1 win against Newcastle United.

The Magpies had taken the lead at St. James’ Park in a tightly contested match but the Gunners fought back late in the match with Arteta throwing everything at the game to win the three points.

Substitute Mikel Merino started the comeback for the Gunners with a fine header and centre-back Gabriel scored in the 96th minute, a header from a corner, to win the match for the North London club.

Neville was one of the pundits who heavily criticised Arteta for his team selection against Manchester City last week at the Emirates Stadium.

Neville felt Arteta’s team played with the handbrake on against Pep Guardiola’s City. Those comments were made after Arteta benched Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Martinelli in the match against City.

Gary Neville praised Arsenal after Newcastle United win

However, Neville was impressed with Arteta’s team selection as well as his in-game management during the win against Newcastle.

Speaking on his podcast on Sky Sports, Neville said:

“That felt big. When the first goal went in, you could sort of smell something.

“There’s big questions being asked of Arsenal in the last week – rightly so. He’s changed today.

[Mikel Arteta will] play it down, we’ll hear him say they’ve done nothing differently, but his team selection at the start of the game is more positive.

“His substitutions were everything he could have thrown at the game. If you’re going to come off a football pitch, make sure you’ve used all your weapons, make sure you’ve used everything in your armoury.

“The reason you get the winner at the end is because of the intent. If they think they can win the league, they believe they should win every single match.

“Let your substitutions tell us that, let your team selection tell us that.

“I’m quite animated here tonight because a week ago I was equally animated – I felt as though he was leaving his team short. Getting a point where even the players in the dressing room might have been thinking, we’ve not played [Eberechi] Eze, not played [Gabriel] Martinelli. His own players need to be let free.

“He’s got a brilliant squad. I think he’s got the best squad in the league and maybe are the best team in the league. I’ll say that quietly because Liverpool are excellent too.”

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Gunners feel they can go all the way this season

The Gunners are now just two points behind league leaders Liverpool and having played against teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Newcastle United already this season, it is a brilliant start from Arteta’s team.

The players are confident and performing well and their attitude shows the belief that they feel they can go on to win the Premier League title this season.

It’s amazing how one result can change the mood around the club. The fans will now be wondering how to buy tickets for the Arsenal vs Olympiacos game at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.

Following their impressive win against Athletic Club in the first match of the Champions League this season, the Gunners will be hoping to continue their winning run in the competition.

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