HIGHLIGHTS | Arsenal vs Newcastle United (3-2) | Two wins from two in Singapore | Merino, Odegaard

Martin Odegaard scored a late penalty - won by Max Dowman - to secure a 3-2 victory over Newcastle in an intensive pre-season friendly in Singapore. Two goals in as many first-half minutes had initially turned the game in our favour after Anthony Elanga had given his new club an early lead with a fortunate goal that bobbled in beyond David Raya. Kai Havertz was involved in both our goals, setting up Mikel Merino with a neat lay off inside the area, before fizzing in a dangerous cross that was crashed into his own net by Newcastle defender Alex Murphy. The Magpies levelled through a Jacob Murphy drive in the second-half but Odegaard scoredfrom 12 yards late on to secure another pre-season win. So that concludes the first leg of our 2025 Asia Tour, and our record in the National Stadium here over the past ten years now reads played six, won five, drawn one – the love between Arsenal and Singapore is certainly mutual. The Singapore National Stadium reached fever pitch shortly before kick-off when Viktor Gyokeres – fresh off his flight from London – was paraded on the pitch. The Arsenal supporters greatly outnumbered their Newcastle counterparts in the stadium, and they gave our new striker the most rapturous of receptions. But it was the Toon Army who were celebrating first. After just five minutes Sandro Tonali’s cross from the right found Elanga in the middle of the box. He scuffed his first-time shot, off his standing foot, but that only served to deceive David Raya, as the ball looped beyond our wrong-footed goalkeeper. We responded well in a frantic opening, and Kai Havertz headed over from a central position before Leandro Trossard had a fierce drive blocked. Bukayo Saka saw plenty of the ball on the right flack in the opening 15 minutes and after running at Dan Burn the ball fell invitingly for Ben White, but he blasted over. At the other end another cut back from the right fell to Bruno Guimaraes, but White was on hand to hack the ball clear after Raya parried the initial shot. Just afte