Arsenal 1 Newcastle United 0 | OneFootball

The England midfielder's eyecatching 25-yarder was all that separated the sides at the Emirates Stadium as Eddie Howe's side missed the chance to leapfrog the Gunners into second place in the Premier League table.

United wrap up the campaign against Everton at St. James' Park next weekend and, following this defeat in North London, they will have to wait until the conclusion of that contest to know with certainty which European competition they will be competing in next term.

It was a breathless opening quarter of an hour in the capital, and Newcastle - who had Callum Wilson leading the line in the absence of the injured Alexander Isak - may have felt like they should have been in front at the break. Sandro Tonali intercepted a wayward David Raya pass five minutes in and played in Wilson, whose lay-off was picked up by Bruno Guimarães. The Gunners' Spanish stopper, however, did well to recover and repel the United captain's effort before clawing away the loose ball.

Tino Livramento, coming in off the left flank, exchanged passes with Anthony Gordon and forced Raya to save again before the hosts had their first real opening. Leandro Trossard tormented Jacob Murphy on the left before cutting in and seeing his shot take a touch off Harvey Barnes on its way over. From Bukayo Saka's resulting corner, Nick Pope produced a remarkable stop to keep out Thomas Partey's header right in front of goal.

It was the only time Mikel Arteta's side really looked like scoring in the first 45, and they were indebted to Raya once more for a trio of important stops to prevent the visitors from moving ahead. His first, at full stretch down low to his left, kept Barnes' deflected drive out and his second, which came shortly after, was even better. Raya reacted well to somehow keep out Dan Burn's glancing header from point-blank range, echoing Pope's superb stop at the other end, before kicking away Sven Botman's follow-up too.

After the restart, Arteta's men started to turn the screw, with Myles Lewis-Skelly seeing a shot blocked in an early attack. The Gunners knew that defeat to the Magpies would see them relinquish second place in the table to Howe's charges and that motivation was reflected in the way in which they had started the second half. On 55 minutes, they took the lead, in some style. Martin Ødegaard's lay-off was met by Rice, whose thunderous, low curling strike left Pope with no chance.

Saka then saw an effort blocked by Botman, who was withdrawn just after the hour in a triple substitution from Howe as he sought to turn the tide. Jacob Murphy and Wilson were the other two players withdrawn, with Emil Krafth, Lewis Miley and Will Osula sent on in their place.

But the Magpies didn't seem to have quite the same level of control they had shown at stages in the first period. Full back Ben White whistled on just past Pope's post but perhaps the best opportunity of the closing stages fell to another Newcastle substitute Joe Willock. The former Arsenal man twisted in the box and took aim, but his shot from a tight angle flew over the bar, rounding off a disappointing afternoon for those in black and white.