The main reason revealed why Sandro Tonali was ruled out for Newcastle United squad against Arsenal (1-0)

Eddie Howe made three changes to his middle in as many games as Newcastle United beat Arsenal 1-0 at St. James’ Park on Saturday.

Bruno Guimaraes started instead of Sandro Tonali for the first time in four Premier League games. Guimaraes had come off the bench against Chelsea last week and started the game. Lloyd Kelly and Emil Krafth were also taken off the field. Dan Burn and Tino Livramento were then brought back into the team.

Newcastle won the game 1-0 thanks to a goal from Alexander Isak. This was their first win in five Premier League games.

For the first time this season in the Premier League, Howe chose a middle three of Joe Willock, Guimaraes, and Sean Longstaff. Joelinton stayed on the left wing.

Howe said this about his midfield changes and Tonali’s move to the bench: “That’s not a short conversation, and we’ve got very good players competing for a limited number of places.”

“The team comes before any one player for me, so it doesn’t matter what you think about specific players in the midfield or any other part of the team; it has to work well together, and that’s what it did again today, I was really happy.”

Joe Willock adds something different, Sean does too, Bruno does too, and Sandro does too. Each person is different, and you’re missing Joelinton, who has played wide and put in a lot of work for the team in a different area of the field. This is a good step forward, but I’m sure there will be a lot more talk about it in the future.

“I think that getting asked about team selection is part of the job. I don’t see any way out of it.” There will always be disagreements about choices, and if you don’t win, you’ll be criticized. That’s something I’ve known for a long time.

Howe also said this about the win: “That win was made possible by everyone, and it’s been a great few days for us to show that how quickly football can change.”

There were two great games against two very good teams. Everything we did today was based on the heart, drive, desire, and quality that we’ve shown over the last three years. A good day for us.

Newcastle moved back into the top half of the Premier League table with the win. Next weekend, they will go to Nottingham Forest and play there.