Here are the latest Newcastle United headlines for Monday, May 8, 2023.
Arsenal hand Newcastle compliment
Dan Burn has spoken about Arsenal's ultimate compliment to Newcastle United despite finishing on the losing side.
The Gunners turned up at St James' Park determined to rattle United and were happy to use the same disruption tactics that Newcastle have picked up a reputation for this season themselves in the Premier League. Burn admitted that Arsenal's approach was frustrating but indicated that Newcastle must roll with the punches.
When asked if it was frustrating, Burn told reporters: "Of course it is, but that's what they are saying we done to them down there. We get a lot of stick for slowing the game down. I don't know if we intentionally do it all the time, but they did it, and it's part and parcel of football.
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"We can't complain when it happens to us. A lot of teams tend to do that now, they feel the energy of the crowd and try to stifle it. When a team like Arsenal are coming here and doing that it is a compliment."
Sean Longstaff injury update
Sean Longstaff must see a specialist before learning how much of a part he could play in Newcastle United's remaining fixtures.
The Geordie midfielder was a huge miss in the 2-0 defeat against Arsenal as the Magpies lost the midfield battle as Jorginho and Granit Xhaka dominated the engine room contest. Longstaff picked up foot injury in the 4-1 win over Everton last month and has not been able to train.
It leaves him as a doubt for the trip to Leeds United on Saturday, and Eddie Howe is keen to learn more about the injury after initially being briefed it was only bruising for the Academy product. When asked if he felt Longstaff would play again this season, Howe reflected: "I certainly hope we will see Sean again this season, but on the specialist’s advice, he’s going to see a specialist on Tuesday to get it double checked.
"I won’t go into the technicalities, but whereas we thought it was quite a standard injury, a bruise, now there may be a chance it’s something a bit more serious than that. We’re in the dark at the moment."
Arteta's spiky response
Mikel Arteta has insisted his Arsenal side are not time-wasters after they ran down the clock in a 2-0 win against Newcastle United.
Title-chasing Arsenal showed both sides of their game at St James' Park on Sunday as the Gunners became just the second visiting team to win at the stadium in the last year. Aaron Ramsdale set the tone for a stop-start game by taking his time with, literally, his first goal kick on an afternoon a whopping 11 minutes of stoppage time were added on in both halves combined.
Once Martin Odegaard put Arsenal in front, before the quarter hour mark, the visitors slowed the game down even further at various points, whether it was the Gunners skipper holding onto the ball when Newcastle were awarded a free-kick at one stage or Granit Xhaka repeatedly going down without a replacement ever being summoned. Even after Fabian Schar put through his own net late on, to double Arsenal's advantage, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka both walked slowly off the field when the pair were taken off.
Arsenal, in the process, gave Newcastle a taste of their own medicine after the Magpies upset Arteta's side's rhythm in the reverse fixture at the Emirates back in January and the Gunners boss acknowledged that 'game management against them is something that is huge with the way they play'. However, when asked if his team were guilty of time-wasting, Arteta offered a clipped response.
"For sure, our team is not like that," the Spaniard told reporters.
When pressed on Xhaka repeatedly going down, Arteta added: "I don’t even want to get close to that conversation with the game we had to play."
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