Alan Shearer has praised Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal for ‘stopping’ Newcastle United star Bruno Guimaraes at St James’ Park on Sunday.
The Premier League title chasers recorded a 2-0 win in front of a hostile Newcastle crowd that put the north London club under the pump from the first whistle.
Bruno Guimaraes was at the heart of Newcastle’s bright start, including cries for an early penalty because of handball, which was given and then overturned after Chris Kavanagh was advised to check his on-field call by VAR.
That saw both Shearer and Ian Wright argue over that call, with Martin Odegaard going on to open the scoring, before Gabriel Martinelli forced Fabian Schar to put the ball into the back of his net in the second half.
Whilst life was very difficult for Arsenal at the start of the game, once Odegaard pinged a delightful effort into the bottom corner from 30 yards out, the away team settled and Shearer felt they then proceeded to deal with players like Guimaraes, as he told Premier League Productions (07/05/23 at 6:50 pm).
“You have to also give credit to Arsenal,” said Shearer. “They stopped Newcastle’s midfield. It has been such a huge part of what they do and how they operate.
“They stopped Bruno (Guimaraes) from playing. We said before the game, so much of what Newcastle do well comes through him and he didn’t have the best game, but it’s because of the way Arsenal stopped him.”
SIGNS OF THINGS TO COME?
First off, someone like Guimaraes should see this as a sign of respect. He is only getting this type of treatment from the opposition because of how good he is.
But this will be a sign of things to come next season.
From the get-go, the opposition are going to target players like Guimaraes knowing that if they can stop the Brazil star, then they have a chance to get something from the game.
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