Mikel Arteta aggrieved at ‘scandalous’ failures to award Arsenal penalties

Mikel Arteta lamented two “scandalous” failures to award Arsenal penalties against a Newcastle side who prevented them from winning at home, and scoring in the Premier League, for the first time this season.

Arsenal felt Dan Burn had impeded Gabriel Magalhães during the second half and then Arteta was incensed when, deep in added time, no spot-kick was awarded after Granit Xhaka’s cross hit Jacob Murphy’s hand. The latter decision by Andrew Madley looked correct, while a different call for the former would have been out of context in a game where grappling at set pieces was routine.

“I’m really proud of the way we played, the way we dominated the game,” Arteta said after a goalless draw that pulls Arsenal eight points clear of second-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand. “We lacked that spark in the final third to find the extra pass and, a little bit, the finishing quality. We had a lot of situations around the box to do better and then there were two scandalous penalties.”

Asked which of the incidents merited punishment more in his eyes, he replied: “Both of them, it’s not particular. It’s a penalty or not a penalty, and these are both penalties.”

Arteta played down a late altercation with Eddie Howe as “part of the game”, also refusing to be directly critical of Madley and his team of officials. He reiterated that Arsenal “lacked the two big decisions, obviously”.

Howe claimed not to remember the grapple between Burn and Gabriel but agreed Murphy had not committed an offence. “I think if it was the other way round I’d be shouting for it,” he said. “Probably not with the belief it should be given because the distance is too tight, I don’t think Jacob’s arm is aloft, I think it’s by his side. For me that shouldn’t be a penalty.”

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Newcastle offered little going forwards, a fact acknowledged by Howe, but he praised a “first class” defensive effort from a team that remain third with only one defeat all season. “A year ago we would have found a way to concede there,” he said. “I think we have a new-found resilience to the team.”