But ex-Celtic and Chelsea striker Sutton thinks the Gunners will be too strong for Eddie Howe's side and has tipped a 2-1 home win. Writing in his weekly BBC prediction column, Sutton said: "There was plenty of controversy when these two sides met at St James' Park in November, including fury towards the VAR from Arsenal over Newcastle's winner. That might mean there is an edge to this game, from the start.
"Arsenal were disappointing in their defeat by Porto on Wednesday, which surprised me a little, but Porto really disrupted them.
"Newcastle may well try to do the same thing but I am expecting the Gunners to bounce back. They were excellent when I watched them beat Burnley last week and the Magpies concede too many goals. including eight in their past three games, so I think Arsenal will find a way through."
Former Arsenal midfielder Merson has backed his former club to bounce back in style from their midweek loss to Porto in the Champions League. In his weekly predictions column on Sportskeeda, Merson has predicted a 3-1 win for the Gunners.
Merson wrote: “Arsenal suffered a big blow last night. They last won a European trophy 30 years ago. It just shows you how hard European competitions really are – you need the experience. They had a lot of the ball away from home, but they didn’t really know what to do with it. I’m not sure why they changed the away-goals rule – you’re now going to get games like this because teams will go into a shell in their away matches.
“I don’t think their European setback will affect Arsenal this weekend. Newcastle have been inconsistent recently but have managed to remain unbeaten in their last five matches. They’re scoring goals, but they’re conceding far too many goals as well. They cannot go to Arsenal this weekend and defend like that – they’ll get destroyed.
“Newcastle’s defence is struggling at the moment, but they don’t have much to play for. I like watching them play because they open games up, but they don’t want to do that against Arsenal – it could get messy. Bukayo Saka could have a field day in this fixture, and I expect Arsenal to win this game comfortably.”
Ex-Tottenham boss Redknapp agrees with Sutton and Merson's assessment on the Premier League fixture. In his BetVictor predictions, Redknapp added: "Arsenal have been in unbelievable form domestically, scoring so many goals. They struggled away to Porto during the week though, I think they’ll be motivated to respond here.
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