While Aston Villa finally got their Premier League season off the ground on Sunday with a much-needed win, Newcastle United slipped to another defeat in the tough division at the hands of Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners took over the never-say-die role from Arne Slot’s Liverpool when travelling to Tyneside, with the determined North Londoners grabbing two late goals in the dying stages to leave the hosts empty-handed in a 2-1 defeat.

This all-too-familiar sting of a loss leaves Eddie Howe’s hosts with only a concerning three points next to their name from their opening six league clashes, with Howe now potentially prepared to drop Dan Burn for games to come after his poor individual showing.

Burn's poor performance vs Arsenal

Straight off the bat, it wasn’t a completely shambolic display at the back overall from the Toon, with both Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman managing to win a commanding 12 duels between them to keep opposition attackers such as Viktor Gyokeres at bay.

But, for Burn, it was a rough day at the office, not helped by Howe’s ultimately foolish decision to draft the 6-foot-7 defender out to a position on the left flank, with Thiaw and Botman positioned in the heart of the defence.

Amazingly, despite coming in at that lofty height, Burn would still manage to be beaten in the air by Gabriel for Arsenal’s dramatic winner.

But, it was more his shoddy performance as a full-back that left a lot to be desired, with the likes of Bukayo Saka on the left channel not intimidated one bit by Burn, who looked shaky throughout coming up against the tricky number seven.

Indeed, Burn would be dribbled past an alarming three times when trying to keep close to his marker, with the 33-year-old also giving up possession a costly 26 times to boost Arsenal’s confidence in attack late on.

Having been a regular starter week in week out for Howe this season in the Premier League – with all six of Newcastle’s games this campaign seeing Burn start – it will be intriguing to see if Burn makes the cut for the upcoming Champions League test away at Royal Saint-Gilloise.

He might not be the only Magpies stalwart in danger of losing his grip on a starting position, however, with this other underperformer now in danger of being ditched for Wednesday’s trip to the Belgian Pro League frontrunners.

Not just Burn: Newcastle underperformed could be ditched

Howe isn’t afraid to exclude notable presences for European nights, with Nick Woltemade – who scored Newcastle’s only effort against the Gunners – missing from the start last time out in the esteemed competition against Barcelona.

Joelinton might well fall victim to his manager’s wrath, too, after not looking at his dominant best versus the Gunners, with his overall numbers from the tight clash making for grim reading, notably amassing fewer touches than Pope.

Minutes played

89

Goals scored

0

Assists

0

Shots

1

Touches

40

Accurate passes

21/31 (68%)

Possession lost

13x

Total duels won

3/15

Much like Burn was uncharacteristically weak when asserting himself in challenges defensively, Joelinton also struggled to impose himself on the contest, coming up against the likes of Mikel Merino and Declan Rice centrally, with only 23% of his duels being won, despite averaging a 44% success rate across the season.

Moreover, the fiery Brazilian would also find it hard to be an attacking threat with just one effort registered on David Raya’s goal.

With Howe also aware of how difficult a challenge Joelinton found the showdown with Barcelona last month – with the South American lasting just 62 minutes against the La Liga giants after amassing a weak 27 touches – it might well be time for the Toon boss to rethink his midfield positions and go with something fresh for the clash in Belgium.

Handed a low 5/10 rating post-match by the Shields Gazette’s Dominic Scurr, who pinpointed Joelinton’s mistiming of challenges as a glaring weakness of his game against Arsenal, alternative faces such as Joe Willock or Lewis Miley could soon be set for a start, as Howe tries to find the starting XI that sees wins get on the board.

With how much this dramatic loss would have also taken out of Newcastle, it could be for the best to give Joelinton a breather mid-week in a bid to restore him to his usual self down the line.