The two sides had very contrasting fortunes at the weekend with Newcastle faltering at home again with Fulham running out 2-1 winners while Arsenal absolutely battered Manchester City 5-1 on Sunday.
If we weren't already nervous heading into Wednesday's game then that result certainly would have done it. That two-goal cushion is huge.
Newcastle can turn it on against big teams, we've seen it many times under Eddie Howe and he does seem to live rent-free in Mikel Arteta's head, so all is not lost.
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Eddie Howe won't change his team's outlook for the clash against Arsenal
We suggested yesterday that Newcastle may look to go defensive and try and shut out Arsenal for 90 minutes. It would be excruciating to watch and I don't think my heart could handle it, but parking the bus when you hold a two-goal advantage is always a tactic. However, it seems Eddie Howe has other ideas as he told reporters this morning that he will send his team out to play like they always do.
"My message is, we are at the halfway point in the tie. Against any opposition, the game is still very much alive. We have to approach the game in a really positive and aggressive way, try and be ourselves, there will be no deviation from that. We are in a good position and need to make the most of every opportunity.
"Us and the crowd have become a really potent team together and that's what we're going to need. We're going to need to absolutely engage all our supporters in our energy and body language and use every power we possess to involve them."
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Gabriel Martinelli is feeling confident ahead of tomorrow's huge game
It seems that Arsenal are out to cause us damage too as Gabriel Martinelli has spoken about hitting us for five (via The Guardian).
“It’s not because we lost 2-0 to Newcastle in the last game – we are going to go there just to play now. We are going to go there to win the game and to score three, four, five. Let’s see. It is going to be another battle and we know how difficult it is to play there. But we have an amazing team and we trust ourselves. We have full confidence in our squad.”
Let's hope Eddie Howe sees this and uses it as he did in the Manchester United team talk that was brilliantly captured during the Amazon Prime documentary. Let's chuffing give it to 'em!
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