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2022/23 English Premier League
Matchday 19
Arsenal v Newcastle United
Emirates Stadium
London, England
Tuesday, 3 January 2023
Kick-off is at 21h45
Newcastle will be looking to ramp up the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal when they lock horns at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, January 3.
The Magpies have been one of the surprise packages this season, winning eight of their opening 15 games and headed into the World Cup break on the back of a 10-match unbeaten run.
Eddie Howe's side made it six wins on the spin when they beat Leicester 3-0 at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day to close to within seven points of the Gunners ahead of their respective New Year's Eve fixtures.
First-half goals from Chris Wood (3' PEN), Miguel Almiron (7') and Joelinton saw off the Foxes, although Howe remains wary of talking up their title chances at this stage of the campaign.
"My attitude won't change to that," he said. "I have no problems with the supporters dreaming and talking and speculating about what we can achieve and no doubt the media will, I can't control that.
"The only thing we need to be mindful of internally is just focus on what we can control and our own thoughts and actions and how we train and how we prepare. And not look too far ahead and not listen to too much news and media and just focus on our training and make sure we focus on it game by game.
"This is the toughest league in the world for a reason and our opposition no doubt will be watching us and preparing for us, so we have to be ready."
Mikel Arteta's table-toppers returned to action after the World Cup break with a 3-1 home victory over London rivals West Ham to register their eighth win in nine outings.
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The north Londoners will close out 2022 in pole position regardless of the result at Brighton on December 31 and Arteta has stressed the importance of maintaining their focus as the club pushes for a first league title in 19 years.
"What I tell them is that we have to focus on us, we cannot control what the opponents are going to do, how good they're going to become, or how many points they're going to earn or drop," he said.
"So, we have to focus on our performance, on what we do every day and what has brought us here, which is not a coincidence, so we just need to keep doing what we're doing."
The two teams shared the spoils last term, with the Toon halting a seven-match losing streak in the top flight to the Gunners following their 2-0 victory at St James' Park after going down 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the reverse fixture.
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Arsenal - 4
Newcastle - 1
Draws - 0
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