Arsenal vs Newcastle
Arsenal against Newcastle on Tuesday night is a real cracker of a game to get 2023 underway.
It sees first against third going head-to-head. And if Arsenal can win their eighth straight game at The Emirates against one of their big rivals, they will really start to think that this year could be the year.
Arsene Wenger turned up for the first time since leaving the club four years ago as the Gunners fought back from 1-0 down to defeat West Ham 3-1 last time at home.
It was a performance in which they had to show some resolve, but they came through it with flying colours and they followed that up with an impressive 4-2 win at Brighton.
Since the 3-1 defeat at Manchester United in September, Mikel Arteta’s men have been at their free-flowing best. They’ve scored 26 goals in the 10 games since and Newcastle will struggle to stop the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard at a passionate Emirates.
Newcastle away from home have won at Spurs, but they were held against Manchester United and lost at Liverpool – their only away defeat.
They scored first that day at Anfield and they are more than capable of repeating that in north London. But Arsenal showed against the Hammers they can win from behind and they may have to repeat their recent heroics against Eddie Howe’s highflyers.
Key stats
- Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in their last seven home matches against Newcastle in all competitions
- Arsenal have won 10 of their last 11 home matches against Newcastle in all competitions
- Arsenal have won nine of their last 10 PL matches
- Newcastle have kept a clean sheet in six of their last eight PL matches
Manchester Utd vs Bournemouth
It was get out of jail time at Molineux after if you backed Marcus Rashford to score first and/or anytime against Wolves.
The England man had turned up late to a team meeting and was dropped to the bench, but he still did the business for Erik ten Hag and United. Hopefully he has worked out how to set an alarm on his iPhone 14 for Tuesday’s game. And he certainly looks worth following again.
The 26-year-old striker seems to have taken the punishment in his stride and posted “better late than never” on his Twitter account in the aftermath.
It’s unlikely that his faux pas will have knocked him out of his stride and Rashford is worth following again against a Cherries defence which has shipped two goals in each game since the return of Premier League football.
It looks like being another home win for Ten Hag’s men, who have not conceded a goal since the restart after the World Cup.
Bournemouth are as big as 11/1, but they have a poor record against United and Gary O’Neil described their defeat against Crystal Palace as “the worst I’ve seen” since he took over in late August.
O’Neil is in the midst of a worrying run of form which has seen the Cherries lose six of their last seven games – and United will have too much quality for them as they continue their momentum.
Key Stats
- Man Utd have won their last three PL matches
- Bournemouth have lost six of their last seven PL matches
- Man Utd have been winning at both half-time and full-time in their last three home matches vs Bournemouth in all competitions.
- Man Utd have won five of their last six matches against Bournemouth in all competitions.
