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Newcastle have been one of the teams that Mikel Arteta has struggled against in recent years.

The two teams played each other four times last season, with Newcastle coming out on top three times - including in both legs of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

Arsenal have not won in their last three visits to St James' Park with their most recent victory coming at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Newcastle's win at St James' park in May 2022 all but cost Arsenal a spot in the Champions League the following season as Arteta's side finished fifth.

Last five at St James' Park:

• Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal, February 2025
• Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal, November 2024
• Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal, November 2023
• Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal, May 2023
• Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal, May 2022

Ciaran Kelly
BBC Sport reporter at St James' Park

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Eddie Howe’s first game on the touchline as Newcastle United head coach was against Arsenal nearly four years ago. A lot has changed since then.

Whereas Arsenal enjoyed a relatively comfortable afternoon that day, the vast majority of games since have been anything but for Mikel Arteta’s side, who have only won three of the last nine meetings.

These games tend to be feisty and I’d expect Sunday’s match at St James’ Park to be a real battle.

After making seven changes midweek, Howe has a handful of genuine selection dilemmas following the 4-1 win against Bradford City.

Does Jacob Murphy replace Anthony Elanga? Will Kieran Trippier come back in? Does a natural right footer like Malick Thiaw get the nod over Sven Botman at centre-back?

Or could the Newcastle head coach even switch to a back five again after the system worked well when these teams last met at St James’ in the Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg?

Expect Howe to give little away when he sits down for his news conference this morning.

Saturday

• Brentford v Manchester United (12:30)
• Chelsea v Brighton (15:00)
• Crystal Palace v Liverpool (15:00)
• Leeds v Bournemouth (15:00)
• Man City v Burnley (15:00)
• Nottingham Forest v Sunderland (17:30)
• Tottenham v Wolves (20:00)

Sunday

• Aston Villa v Fulham (14:00)
• Newcastle v Arsenal (16:30)

Monday

• Everton v West Ham (20:00)

Just the 16 (SIXTEEN) Premier League manager news conferences today. Here's who is up and when...

• 09:00: Brighton - Fabian Hurzeler
• 09:30: Newcastle - Eddie Howe
• 09:45: Liverpool - Arne Slot
• 10:15: Bournemouth - Andoni Iraola
• 11:00: Chelsea - Enzo Maresca
• 12:00: Arsenal - Mikel Arteta
• 12:30: Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
• 13:00: Wolves - Vitor Pereira
• 13:30: Tottenham - Thomas Frank
• 13:30: Brentford - Keith Andrews
• 13:30: Crystal Palace - Oliver Glasner
• 13:30: Fulham - Marco Silva
• 13:30: Everton - David Moyes
• 13:30: Nottingham Forest - Ange Postecoglou
• 13:30: West Ham - Graham Potter
• 14:15: Manchester United - Ruben Amorim

All times BST.

Right then, let's turn our attention back to the Premier League.

A day of managers talking awaits with Fabian Hurzeler kicking things off at 09:00 BST.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Ibrox

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Russell Martin was left, once again, to reap the whirlwind of those Rangers supporters who remained until the end.

Around 12,000 tickets went unsold - a reflection of a deepening apathy. The boos, now as much a part of the match-day experience as Broxi Bear, were heard again.

The chants demanding the manager's head were cranked up for the umpteenth time. It was grim. The cameras panned to the directors' box, where chairman Andrew Cavenagh and chief executive Patrick Stewart stood stony-faced.

A penny for Cavenagh's thoughts. The Rangers fans would cough up a lot more than that for an audience with the man, for a chance to air their views by way of a venting of the spleen.

Cavenagh has made it known that he's behind his manager, but it's just not credible to think that he has no doubts about what he's seeing. And it's unimaginable that he has no concerns about the way his - and other people's - money has been spent.

Is any single part of Rangers' operation working? Not really. Quality of play, results, recruitment, relationship with supporters - nothing is functioning.

You are correct, of course, Rob. How could I forget Harvey Elliott's goal? Turns out I'd have been useless at that pub quiz even if there had been sports questions...

Rangers head coach Russell Martin: "I'm frustrated. The red card changed a lot, but I'm proud of the players in the second half.

"I asked them to be really aggressive after the sending off, not just try and defend for 45 minutes. Genk didn't cut us open, we weren't defending relentlessly.

"The longer the game goes on, if we actually dominate the ball, we create a lot more. We'll get there.

"We had 10 men for a long time, I think Jack [Butland] only had two saves to make in the second half. I thought we had some really good performances."

Tom English
BBC Scotland chief sports writer at Ibrox

Image source, Getty Images

There's no end of flak that can be flung at Russell Martin for the epic fail that is his project at Rangers.

But watching his reaction when Mohamed Diomande got a deserved red card four minutes before half-time at Ibrox made you feel for the man.

Rangers had been second best. Fitful at the back, wasteful in possession, headless chickens in too many areas. Again.

Even before the red, it looked likely that Martin's period of calm after Saturday's League Cup win over Hibernian was about to come to a shuddering and noisy end.

In losing the plot, Diomande more or less ensured that Rangers were losing this Europa League opener against Genk, currently Belgium's 14th best team.

By lunging in on Zakaria El Ouahdi, Diomande left his team-mates in a terrible lurch, already struggling with 11 and now sitting ducks with 10.

The lack of self-control was unforgivable, the look of confused innocence on his face in the aftermath a complete nonsense. A 1-0 defeat was incoming.

Diomande, who on his very best days looks like a player worthy of the jersey, has been nowhere near it this season. Too often he's been lazy in his work and now he was ridiculous in his discipline.

As you've mentioned Rangers, Jason...

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Ollie Watkins' struggles can be charted back to the second half of last season when he scored just four times in Villa's final 19 games.

The 29-year-old started 13 of those but was left out of the starting line ups for their Champions League quarter-final defeat by Paris St-Germain, playing just 25 minutes across both legs.

This season he has missed all five of his big chances, has managed just 40 touches in the opposition's box across his nine appearances and is averaging less than one shot on target per game.

With an expected goals return of 2.2 it is clear he is falling short.

Yet this is Villa's record Premier League goalscorer. His strike against Bournemouth in May put him on 75 goals, one ahead of Gabby Agbonlahor from 133 fewer games.

He has 87 goals in 229 appearances for Villa and five in 19 caps for England, including a debut international strike against San Marino in 2021.

Image source, Getty Images

Ollie Watkins has not dropped below double figures in his five years in the Premier League, including the 19 goals he scored in 2023-24 to help fire Villa into the Champions League, and there is belief he will return to his best.

Aston Villa captain McGinn told TNT Sport: "He's a top-class striker. He's not in the England squad for nothing. He's shown over the years how good he is.

"If he's not scoring, that's fine. You've seen the effort he puts in for the team. We don't need to put any pressure on him and add to any external noise. He's been brilliant for us and has got nothing to prove to us."

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

When Morgan Rogers handed Ollie Watkins the ball, the Holte End chanted the striker's name.

Seconds after his weak penalty was saved by Bologna's Lukasz Skorupski, Watkins' name was again chanted in support.

The England striker is enduring a 10-game goal drought for club and country at a time when Villa need him at his sharpest, despite Thursday's Europa League win.

His nine games without scoring in the club shirt is the joint longest he has gone without a goal in his Villa career, having previously had nine-game dry spells in 2020-21 and 2022-23.

His second-half spot kick was the ideal chance to end that but the scuffed strike lacked confidence and allowed Skorupski to save with his legs.

"He didn't score, okay, it doesn't matter, the goal is coming through the work he did today," manager Unai Emery said.

"I am happy because he played doing his task. He worked, this is the most important.

"The most important thing is how he is working in his tasks for the team. Today he played a good match, not enough because he didn't score but he played good. This is the first step."

One of the big issues for Aston Villa has been scoring goals - John McGinn's strike was just their second goal of the season - and it doesn't help when your star striker is going through a very tricky spell...

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Aston Villa hauled themselves across the line for a victory that gets their season under way but they are a long way from what is expected of them.

Their last European game at Villa Park was a swashbuckling, dramatic and heroic 3-2 Champions League quarter-final second leg win over Paris St-Germain in April which pushed the eventual champions - who squeezed through 5-4 on aggregate - to the limit.

Fast forward to September and Villa are lacking confidence and conviction as they tackle Europe again.

Watkins' missed second-half penalty summed up the lack of belief at Villa Park against an average Bologna who nearly grabbed a point, but for Bizot's late save to deny Vitik.

They got the job done but did nothing to show they are out of their rut. A positive start gave way to a stuttering display which better and more ruthless teams - in Europe and the Premier League - will punish.

It gives them something to build on before Sunday's visit of Fulham but the loss of form of Morgan Rogers and Watkins - both so pivotal last season - is a growing concern.

Unai Emery has so often squeezed every drop out of this Villa side since he joined just under three years ago but he needs to find some extra juice now.

The bar has been so high under Emery it is no wonder the questions about Villa's form and performance as there. And there needs to be a drastic improvement to even get close to those previous heights.