Ahead of this weekend's Premier League action, Sportsmail will be providing you with all you need to know about every fixture, with team news, provisional squads, betting odds and Opta stats. Here is all the information you need for Newcastle United's home clash with Arsenal at St James' Park.
Arsenal team news
Unai Emery has no fresh injury concerns as he prepares to take his Arsenal side to face Newcastle in the Premier League.
Alex Iwobi missed the win at Cardiff before the international break through illness but is now available, while those who travelled to represent their countries returned unscathed.
Laurent Koscielny (achilles), Sead Kolasinac (knee), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (leg) and Carl Jenkinson (ankle) remain absent.
Provisional squad: Cech, Leno, Bellerin, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Papastathopoulos, Monreal, Nelson, Xhaka, Elneny, Torreira, Guendouzi, Ramsey, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Welbeck, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Newcastle and Arsenal - Key match stats
Newcastle’s 2-1 victory in this exact fixture last season ended a 10-match losing run against Arsenal in the Premier League. The Magpies last won consecutive league games against the Gunners back in January 1996 (four wins).
Only against Everton (32) and West Ham United (29) have Arsenal won more Premier League games than versus Newcastle United (26).
Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has lost six times versus Arsenal in the Premier League; only against Chelsea and Man Utd (nine each) has he suffered more defeats. However, the Spaniard has won two of his last three against the Gunners in the competition (L1).
Newcastle have lost all three of their Premier League matches against ‘big six’ opposition in 2018-19 by a 1-2 scoreline.
Arsenal have won two of their last three away Premier League games (L1), as many as in their previous 13 combined (W2 D3 L8). The Gunners haven’t won consecutive away league games since May 2017.
Only Spurs (458.0 KM) have covered more distance in the first four Premier League games of this season than Arsenal (455.2 KM).
Since beating Arsenal in April (2-1), Newcastle have picked up just one win in their last nine games in the Premier League (W1 D1 L7).
Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has had a hand in three goals in three Premier League appearances versus Newcastle (two goals, one assist) but has yet to face them at St James’ Park.
Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted his 150th goal in the big five European leagues following his strike against Cardiff – only eight players have scored more than the Gabonese striker since his debut in August 2009.
Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette has been directly involved in seven goals in his last five Premier League starts (5 goals, 2 assists).