Noni Madueke singles out Arsenal ‘monster’ following dominant Newcastle performance

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Gabriel Magalhaes’ late winner for Arsenal against Newcastle at St James’ Park might just be the catalyst his side’s title push needed.

Especially in the first half, Arsenal were excellent against Newcastle, and they have every right to feel aggrieved about a controversial VAR decision which went Nick Pope’s way.

When Pope brought down Viktor Gyokeres through on goal, the whole stadium seemingly expected a penalty to ensue, but it ultimately wasn’t the case.

In terms of supporters online, Newcastle fans were split on VAR’s penalty call, but from Arsenal’s point of view, they eventually still found a way to win.

And as it often has been for Arsenal, it was Brazilian centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes who rose big from a corner, heading his side right into a title race.

Noni Madueke reacts to Gabriel Magalhaes’ winner for Arsenal

Unfortunately for summer signing Noni Madueke, he was watching the game at home owing to injury.

Madueke started the season brilliantly for Arsenal after making the switch from Chelsea, but he picked up a knee issue last time out in the league against Manchester City.

TBR Football initially understands that Madueke will be injured for around six weeks, but it remains to be seen how the English winger’s return will progress.

That being said, Madueke shared a delighted reaction to Arsenal’s win and Gabriel’s goal on Instagram at full-time.

READ MORE: Eberechi Eze reveals the changes he’s already made under Mikel Arteta at Arsenal

Posting on his story, Madueke shared a picture of Gabriel on his knees celebrating his goal alongside a caption of ‘Monsterrrr’.

In truth, Gabriel has been oddly quiet from Arsenal set-pieces so far this season – he hasn’t been the epicentre of the disruption over the last few weeks.

But when it mattered most, Gabriel rose to head home a vital winner for Mikel Arteta.

Mikel Arteta’s Cristhian Mosquera experiment backfires

Surprisingly, Arteta opted to start Cristhian Mosquera alongside Gabriel from the start against Newcastle.

Arteta explained why William Saliba was on the bench just before kick off.

But after a fairly sloppy first half performance by Mosquera in difficult circumstances, Arteta made the call to switch to Saliba at the break.

In fairness to the Arsenal manager, it initially seemed like a clever move – Saliba often plays too much football and Mosquera has shown the necessary levels to cope on such an occasion.

But it proved to be slightly too much, too soon for the Spaniard, who is still in his early days at the club.

But Arteta’s decision ultimately didn’t cost Arsenal, and his substitutions ended up being inspired in the second half.

Arteta was criticised for his decisions vs Man City, but he certainly got it right at St James’ Park.