The noise surrounding Newcastle United vs Arsenal refuses to die down, as Alan Shearer and Ian Wright continue to debate the game’s most controversial incident.
There was plenty of drama as Newcastle won 1-0 on Saturday night, with Anthony Gordon scoring the only goal. However, the decision to award it has enraged everyone associated with Arsenal Football Club.
There was immediate anger from the supporters, as there always would be, but that was followed by a rant from Mikel Arteta that boggled the mind. Arsenal then doubled down, releasing a statement in support of their manager and his intense criticism of the officials.
And that was just one of the game’s major talking points. There was also the Kai Havertz challenge on Sean Longstaff, and Bruno Guimaraes’ collision with Jorginho – or perhaps ‘assault’ would be a better word to describe it.
In the end, Newcastle won. They scored the only goal against a previously unbeaten Arsenal side that were completely stifled at St James’ Park.
But their underwhelming performance has slipped under the radar, with the post-game chat being dominated by an alleged miscarriage of justice.
Alan Shearer sends message to Ian Wright after Newcastle Arsenal controversy
Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright is still not happy with the decision to award Gordon’s goal. He believes it should have been disallowed for a foul on Gabriel by Joelinton, and expressed his thoughts on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Alongside a still image of the incident, Wright wrote: “Bro. I’m done with people saying this is not a foul, 50/50.”
His message prompted a reply from his Match Of The Day colleague and Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer.
He responded: “Never a foul man!!! Should your keeper not have collected it!!! ps love you.”
The Arsenal reaction is staggering
The thing that is most staggering about the Arsenal reaction is that it is over a subjective decision.
There was no conclusive proof that the ball was out, nor was there conclusive proof that Gordon was offside.
The only dubious one is the foul, and you can look at it from both ways. Gabriel should be much stronger, and is already stooping down before Joelinton puts his hands on him. Alternatively, there would be plenty of Newcastle complaints if it was the other way round.
It is understandable that the Arsenal faithful are annoyed, but at some point you’ve just got to move on. This was a subjective decision in an intense game that did not go their way.
It is easy to blame the officials, but as Shearer says, what was David Raya doing? His goalkeeping was horrible for the goal, while Gabriel had a chance to clear the danger away before any of the controversy.
I know there would be anger if that had gone against Newcastle, but I also know that there would have been no rant by Eddie Howe, nor would there have been a statement by the club like the one Arsenal released.
Arteta said the decision was embarrassing, but that is the only word that can be used to describe the Arsenal response.
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