Mikel Arteta has revealed that he told his Arsenal players that they will be 'fine' against Newcastle United if they play like they did in the opening half-hour of a devastating North London derby defeat.
Arsenal had a chance to secure their place in next season's Champions League with a win against their bitter rivals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday night, but the 10-man Gunners ended up losing the game 3-0 following goals from Harry Kane (two) and Son Heung-min. It was Arsenal's heaviest league defeat against Spurs since 1983 and the Gunners are now just a point above Antonio Conte's side in the table.
While Arteta had no complaints about his team's performance, the Arsenal boss was, clearly, furious with referee Paul Tierney's decision to award Spurs a penalty for Kane's opener midway through the first half and, then, to send off Rob Holding for a second yellow card after the half-hour mark. Arteta gave a series of curt answers in every interview he did after the game, where the Spaniard reiterated that he could not say what he really felt for fear of being suspended.
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Next up for Arsenal, of course, is a trip to St James' Park to face a Newcastle side who have won six out of their last seven fixtures at home. It's a must-win game for Arsenal, but that task has been made all the more difficult after Holding's red card and Gabriel's hamstring injury left the Gunners light of options at centre-back after Ben White was not risked on Thursday night. Gary Neville, for one, has said it will be a 'really tough' game for Arsenal but Arteta has stressed that he has already lifted his players.
"I have already done," he told the BBC. "This game is history and now it's Newcastle and we're all focused. It's Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle.
"I said I'm so proud of them and if we do what we did in the first half-hour here, we will be fine against Newcastle."
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