Arsenal are making a return to Newcastle United for the first time since they were beaten 1-0 at St James’ Park last November in a controversial manner.
The Gunners hope of winning the Premier League was dashed last season when Anthony Gordon struck midway through the second half. The goal survived three VAR checks before referee Stuart Attwell eventually gave it.
Arteta voiced out his frustrations after the match, labelling the decision as “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”. Though he was charged by the FA, the Spaniard was later cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent regulatory commission.
Ahead of their reunion on Saturday afternoon, Arteta has insisted that he does not believe that Arsenal’s relationship with PGMOL has been damaged following that incident
“Hopefully we are past it,” he said. “We talked through it in depth and that’s done. It is a year. A year in football is a long, long time.
“Every club has got its history and they have games and situations and comments. That is part of the game and we have to understand it as it is.
“Every decision I make I am going to be criticised, or nobody is going to understand or they will understand and praise it. There are always going to be opinions about our jobs, that’s normal.”
Arsenal also revealed that despite the controversies surrounding the goal, he has not been able to watch the Gordon goal back.
“I didn’t stop on that sequence! I didn’t want to go through that,” he said. “It is already on my hard drive so I didn’t want to go through that again.”
Arsenal have failed to win their last two games having lost to Bournemouth and play out a 2-2 draw with Liverpool last week.
Newcastle provides Mikel Arteta’s side another chance to prove they are a force to reckon with as they battle Manchester City, Liverpool for the Premier League title.
