Arsenal vs Newcastle United: Singapore Festival of Football

The Singapore Festival of Football 2025 concluded last Sunday night with the friendly match between Arsenal and Newcastle United at the Singapore Sports Hub.

The 38,000 football fans in attendance were treated to a five-goal thriller which saw Arsenal edge out Newcastle in a 3-2 win. Newcastle drew first blood when new signing Anthony Elanga found the back of the net in the 6th minute with a composed finish off Sando Tonali’s delivery on the right wing.

The stadium erupted when Mikel Merino drew Arsenal level. Clearly there seemed to be more Arsenal fans than Newcastle fans among the crowd. Moments later, the Gunners took the lead through an own goal by Newcastle defender Alex Murphy who failed to properly clear Kai Havertz’s low driven cross. It was the Magpies turn to draw level when Jacob Murphy’s low shot found the back of the net from outside the box.

At that point, the match looked to be heading towards a draw.

But there was another twist yet to come. Max Dowman, Arsenal’s 15 year old sensation, was awarded a penalty for the Gunners in the 85th minute and the resulting penalty was coolly converted by Arsenal’s captain Martin Odegaard. This proved to be the decisive goal that saw Arsenal take the win.

Mikel Arteta, Arsenal manager, was pleased with his side’s performance in a game that was competitive despite being a friendly.

He said, “I think it’s not a friendly. You have to take this as an opportunity as well to raise the competitive level and there are things that obviously we want to achieve, but there are things in terms of how we compete, how we understand the position and the willingness to win regardless of what we are playing for.”

He was particularly pleased with the positive showing by new signing Martin Zubimendi who was starting an Arsenal match for the first time.

Said Arteta, “I think the demands that Newcastle put on you, especially in midfield, with the kind of plays and profiles that he had, I think Zubimendi coped with it with intensity and physicality.”

As well he is very happy about signing Viktor Gyokeres. He said, “We are increasing the quality of the squad and the depth of the squad with all the signings that we’ve done.”

Added Arteta, “We are super happy to have Viktor with us. He’s been incredible, he was very clear from the beginning where he wanted to play and how passionate I felt from him from day one when we first spoke.”