Newcastle United ran out deserved 1-0 winners on that day with Anthony Gordon’s second half strike enough to secure them all three points on a rain soaked evening at St James’ Park. VAR checked the goal for first whether the ball had left the field of play, then for a foul by Joelinton and eventually for offside, before clearing all three checks and allowing the goal to stand.
That decision turned out to be one of the most controversial talking points of the season and still has some Arsenal fans questioning the call on social media, almost a full year on. Arteta, meanwhile, admitted he did not watch the goal back as he prepares his side for today’s game:
“I didn’t stop on that sequence! I didn’t want to go through that,” Arteta said earlier this week. “It is already on my hard drive so I didn’t want to go through that again.”
After that match almost twelve months ago, an irate Arteta branded the decision a ‘disgrace’ and was charged with breaching Rule E3.1. However, the Spaniard escaped punishment after appealing the charge.
Speaking about those comments and his side’s visit to St James’ Park this weekend, Arteta continued: “Hopefully we are past it. 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.”
The visitors travel to the north east in 3rd place in the Premier League table but know that a defeat could see them end the day eight points behind Manchester City. The Gunners have lost just once this season, coming against Bournemouth after they were forced to play an hour with ten men following William Saliba’s red card.
