Mikel Arteta was unable to hide his frustration with referee Andy Madley after Arsenal dropped points in the title race on Tuesday night.
Just days after opening up a seven point lead over Manchester City at the summit of the Premier League, the Gunners were held to a 0-0 draw by Newcastle in a feisty encounter that saw no fewer than nine yellow cards dished out by Madley.
Arteta was animated on the touchline all night and things threatened to boil over between the Spaniard and Newcastle boss Eddie Howe after Madley denied Arsenal a late penalty after the ball appeared to ricochet against an arm.
The late flare-up on the touchline occurred just seconds before Madley blew time at the Emirates Stadium. After dropping points, Manchester City could cut the deficit in the title race to just five points - and Arteta was clearly less than impressed after the match after seeing two penalty appeals turned down.
Speaking to Sky Sports, an agitated Arteta said: “[I am] Extremely proud of my players. The way we played the game, the way we controlled the game and we missed in the final third. We had so many situations to finish them better and then we had two scandalous penalties.”
When he was pressed over what penalty decision he felt most aggrieved by, Arteta added: “It is not about which one was stronger, we had two penalties. I am not talking about the referee, I am talking about what I saw and that was two scandalous penalties."
Arteta went on to bemoan Newcastle's pragmatic approach. The Magpies have the leanest defence in the Premier League and stifled the majority of Arsenal's most potent players.
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"Newcastle wanted to set-up like this. It is not the way they play. They have not set-up like this against anyone else.
"When you cannot win you cannot lose and we kept a clean sheet and had a really good performance. Now we go again. I wanted to win the game and we drew it. We should have done some things better in the final third and we should have had two penalties to win the game."
Howe was also asked about the bust-up on the touchline towards the end of the game - but the Newcastle boss decided to play down the clash.
He told Sky Sports: " Well obviously at that stage of the game you’re thinking please no, the lads have given so much to the game. That would have been a travesty for us. I didn’t think it was a penalty just because of the proximity but you just never know, but I’m delighted. With me and Mikel, it’s all fine."
