Arsenal’s poor away form continued as they were beaten 2-1 at St James’ Park against a resurgent Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon.
Alexandre Lacazette gave the Gunners an early lead on, only for Rafa Benitez’s side to fight back with goals from Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie securing them a famous win.
Arsenal weren’t at their fluent best after the exertions of Thursday night when they faced CSKA Moscow in the Europa League, as they reached the last four of the competition.
It was a much changed team which Wenger named for the trip to Newcastle as Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Joe Willock were all given rare chances to impress.
They were always a threat with Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but found it difficult to get through a stubborn home defence in a very exciting contest in the North East.
Here is how we rated the Gunners following the defeat against Newcastle.
Petr Cech - 6
Couldn’t have done too much with the goals but he made a couple of fine saves.
Calum Chambers - 5
A poor showing from the young defender.
Shkodran Mustafi - 6
Played well for large parts but was at fault for first goal.
Rob Holding - 5
His first game for a while and you could tell he was rusty.
Nacho Monreal - 7
Another strong showing from the Spanish defender.
Granit Xhaka - 5
A poor showing as he returned following an injury.
Mohamed Elneny - 6
Elneny turned in a reasonable display in the midst of a tough midfield battle.
Joe Willock - 7
A solid performance from the midfielder in a rare start.
Alex Iwobi - 7
One of the best performers in the attacking areas, causing the Newcastle back line problems.
Alexandre Lacazette - 8
A brilliant performance from the Frenchman as he grabbed a goal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 7
Another great performance, linking up well with Lacazette throughout.
Substitutes
Danny Welbeck: 6 – Was quiet when introduced in the last 20 minutes.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 6 – A solid showing when he came on late on.
Eddie Nketiah: 6 – Was only on for a matter of minutes so it was tough for him to make an impact.