Both revelling in midweek EFL Cup successes, Newcastle United and Arsenal collide in the 12.30pm Premier League kickoff on Saturday at St James' Park.

preview

A clash between the only two sides in English football to ever go a full top-flight season unbeaten - Preston in 1888-89 and Arsenal in 2003-04 - the Premier League title challengers were unsurprisingly far too good for their Deepdale foes in the last 16 of the EFL Cup.

Either side of Gabriel Jesus's first goal in exactly nine months and Kai Havertz's bullet header, 17-year-old sensation Ethan Nwaneri picked out the top corner with a delightful curling strike, becoming the youngest man to score in their first two starts for Arsenal in the process.

How Arsenal could have used a dash of Nwaneri inspiration against Liverpool last weekend, where Arteta's crop deservedly took a 2-1 lead into half time, only for the 11 men to play the second half as if they had 10 men and succumb to a well-worked Mohamed Salah equaliser in that 2-2 thriller.

Already losing vital ground in the title race - sitting third in the Premier League table with a five-point gap to make up to leaders Manchester City - Arsenal have lost their defensive mean streak, shipping multiple goals in four of their last five top-flight games.

All in all, a total of nine conceded in five Premier League matches is more than Arteta's men had let in over an 18-game streak before that, and the Gunners' recent tendency to drop off has seen the Arsenal boss draw comparisons with Jose Mourinho, and not the complimentary kind.

One of Mourinho's former clubs became Newcastle's latest EFL Cup victims on Wednesday evening, as current Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made a full 11 changes for the fourth-round showdown after the Blues' first-string side edged out the Magpies in top-flight action.

However, revenge tasted sweet for Eddie Howe and co by the close of play on October 30, as a Halloween horror show from Chelsea's defenders allowed Alexander Isak to draw first blood before Axel Disasi's comical own goal rubber-stamped Newcastle's place in the last eight.

Rewarded for their endeavours with a winnable home tie against Brentford, Newcastle must use Wednesday's victory as a springboard for better Premier League fortunes; their 2-1 loss to Maresca's team at the weekend made it five top-flight games without a win.

With just two points taken from the last 15 on offer, Newcastle languish in mid-table mediocrity in 12th place and saw their 11-game unbeaten Premier League home run come to an end against Brighton & Hove Albion a couple of weekends ago, but not since February 2020 have they gone scoreless in back-to-back Premier League games at St James' Park.

Newcastle's ground was the scene of a 1-0 win for the Magpies over Arsenal last year, though - even if Anthony Gordon's winner was lambasted as "embarrassing" and "a disgrace" by Arteta - but the Gunners atoned for their North East errors with a 4-1 Emirates battering a couple of months later.

possible starting lineup: