Newcastle star Lewis Hall says he was proud to keep ‘amazing player’ Bukayo Saka ‘quiet’ in the side’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
The Magpies were without a win in their previous five league matches but started strongly at St James’ Park and took the lead through a powerful Alexander Isak header in the 14th minute.
The Gunners simply had no answer and managed just one shot on target across the 90 minutes, with Newcastle holding firm to rise to ninth in the Premier League table.
The result meant Arsenal missed out on the chance to close the gap on title rivals Manchester City. However, Bournemouth did Mikel Arteta’s men a favour with a shock 2-1 defeat of the champions later in the day.
Saka, arguably Arsenal’s standout player this season, was uncharacteristically ineffective in the contest and young Newcastle defender Hall was key in restricting the forward’s influence on the game.
‘It was a really, really good performance from us,’ Hall, who came away with the man-of-the-match award, told TNT Sports shortly after the final whistle.
‘I think we know what they can bring, we saw it all of last season and how competitive they are.
‘When we went 1-0 up it was just about being in a low block, working hard together.
‘There are a lot of players in that team who probably don’t want to be doing that sort of job but they did fantastically well today.’
On his match-up with Saka, Hall added: ‘Bukayo is an amazing player.
‘Going into the game, I was just thinking that if I could keep him as quiet as possible then I’ve done my job well.’
According to Hall, Newcastle’s rapturous home support helped drag the team over the line when up against it in the second half.
‘When teams come and play at St James’ Park, every block, every tackle, every throw-in we win… little things like that get the crowd going where at other places it might not mean as much,’ he continued.
‘It’s amazing we can get that sort of feeling for a block or something like that.’
There have been some calls for Hall to receive an call-up to the senior England squad in recent weeks, but the full-back is ‘just focussed on playing for Newcastle’.
‘I’ve absolutely loved my time at Newcastle. When I first came, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit frustrating,’ he went on.
‘But I think I’ve improved the defensive part of my game massively and I’m just proud I can wear this shirt and provide performances like today.
‘Obviously, there aren’t many left-backs in the England squad so I’d be lying as well if I said I hadn’t noticed that too but I’m just focussed on playing for Newcastle.
‘If I’m playing well at Newcastle then that’s all I care about at the moment.’
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