Mikel Arteta has reiterated that Arsenal did not deserve to get 'anything' out of last season's devastating defeat against Newcastle United ahead of the two sides' big rematch next month.
It was Newcastle, rather than Arsenal, who looked like they were playing for a place in the Champions League in the penultimate game of the season at St James' Park last May. Eddie Howe's side fed off the energy of the crowd and swarmed the Gunners yet, by half-time, somehow, it was still goalless.
Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka told his team-mates to 'wake up' during the break because they were playing like a 'second division team'. Arsenal, in truth, were not much better in the second half and an own goal from Ben White and a clincher from Bruno Guimaraes gave Newcastle a deserved 2-0 win.
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Arteta admitted that Newcastle played '10,000 times better' than Arsenal, who ultimately missed out on a place in the top four, but the Gunners boss has been heartened by his side's response ever since. The league leaders, like Newcastle, have only lost one top-flight fixture since then and it could well be a clash between first and third when Arteta's side welcome the Magpies to the Emirates on January 3.
That would have been an unimaginable prospect not so long ago and, in a new Monday Night Football special with Arteta, Jamie Carragher was not shy in bringing up the 'scenes in the dressing room' after that Newcastle defeat. That post-match team talk, which was captured in Amazon's 'All or Nothing' documentary series, showed Arteta hammering his side for not winning a 'f------ duel' before he later told his silent players to 'shut your mouths'.
"We fell short," Arteta told Carragher. "We didn't deserve to get anything out of that game and we missed a big opportunity.
"But when I look back on the season, where we were, compare ourselves with all the teams and what they had and what we did, it gave me a lot of encouragement to believe that if we did well in the transfer window, the following season was going to be even better."
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