Joe Willock may have helped Newcastle take a point home from the Emirates on Tuesday night, but he retains a soft spot for Arsenal.
The Magpies battled to a 0-0 draw against Arsenal as the Premier League ’s best defence held out against the table-toppers. Willock started the match against his former side and played 87 minutes of the stalemate before being replaced by Allan Saint-Maximin.
The result saw Newcastle stay third on 35 points, nine behind Arsenal, who also have a game in hand on Eddie Howe’s side. It was an attritional game which was frequently broken up by fouls, with referee Andy Madley often taking centre stage – prompting a post-match blast from Mikel Arteta.
The tempestuous nature of the game did not extend to Willock, who sent a nice message to his former club on Instagram. He wrote: “Happy new year. This year we want to bring history back to Newcastle. Good point to start the year @nufc. good luck for the season @arsenal.”
Willock joined Arsenal as a four-year-old and came through the club’s academy before making 78 appearances for the first team. He joined Newcastle on loan in February 2021 and made an immediate impact on Tyneside by scoring eight goals in 14 appearances for Steve Bruce’s side.
His hugely successful temporary stint led to a permanent £25million transfer that summer as Willock left behind his boyhood club. Speaking in August 2021, he made it clear what Arsenal means to him.
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“The last few days have been tough. We had lots to discuss as a family and different decisions,” he said. “It was not easy to leave Arsenal, my boyhood club, where I had been since I was four and a half.
“But there is no better club for me to come to. I feel like Newcastle is like a family. Players manager fans. That is perfect for me and something I thrive in.”
There was no friendly greeting for Willock on his return to north London, though, with the game producing plenty of fiery moments. Madley gave out eight yellow cards – four to each side – while Arteta was furious with the decisions not to award his side a penalty for Dan Burn's shirt pull on Gabriel or Jacob Murphy's apparent handball inside the area late on.
Arteta was asked by Sky Sports which penalty decision he felt most aggrieved by. He replied: "It is not about which one was stronger, we had two penalties. I am not talking about the referee, I am talking about what I saw and that was two scandalous penalties."
The Arsenal manager was also annoyed by the way Newcastle approached the game. "Newcastle wanted to set-up like this," he said. "It is not the way they play. They have not set up like this against anyone else."
