At Emirates Stadium, the Magpies’ tenacious approach kept the Gunners at bay and ended their 11-game Premier League winning streak.
At the end of the game, Arteta cut an angry figure and claimed that his team had been wrongfully refused penalties, first when Dan Burn pulled Gabriel back following a free kick and again in the closing seconds when it appeared that Jacob Murphy handled the ball.
The rulings, which were both reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee, clearly infuriated Arteta and his team as they wildly raised their arms in the air.
“There were two penalties. It’s very simple. I’m talking about what I’ve seen. It was two scandalous penalties,” said Arteta.
There’s no denying that the second appeal strikes the arm, but Matthew Upson, who was contributing to BBC Radio 5 Live’s analysis of the game, said of it: “There’s no doubt it strikes the arm but it’s not in an unnatural position and it’s not miles out of the silhouette of the body to attempt to block the ball.”
Gary Neville, a former Manchester United defender and current Sky Sports analyst, concurred with Upson that the handball was “never a penalty.”
Eddie Howe, the manager of the Magpies, remarked that giving up a penalty that late in the game would have been a “travesty.”
“Obviously at that stage of the game you’re thinking ‘oh no, the lads have given so much’, and that would have been a travesty for us. I didn’t think it was a penalty but you just never know,” he said.
However, Neville claimed that Newcastle were “extremely lucky” to avoid conceding a penalty and that Arsenal might feel “aggrieved” at the initial judgement.
In a contentious game, referee Andy Madley issued nine yellow cards, and the Emirates crowd jeered the officials’ performance at halftime.