Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal suffered a controversial defeat against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United at St. James’ Park in the Premier League over the weekend. Arsenal lost 1-0 to Newcastle United, with Anthony Gordon scoring the only goal of the match in the 64th minute. This result has bolstered Newcastle’s chances of finishing in the top four of the Premier League table this season but has hindered Arsenal’s title race against Manchester City.
Gordon’s goal was surrounded by controversy, as VAR had to check whether the ball had gone out of play, for a foul, and for offside. Newcastle was unhappy about Kai Havertz escaping a red card for a first-half challenge on Sean Longstaff, while Arsenal believed that Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes should have been sent off for an elbow on Jorginho.
After the match, Arsenal released a statement on their official website, criticizing the refereeing decisions during the game. In response to the statement, Newcastle legend and BBC Sport pundit Alan Shearer, on The Rest is Football podcast, pointed out that Arsenal did not mention the incident involving Kai Havertz not receiving a red card, which he believed should have been given.
Shearer criticized Arsenal for releasing the statement in the first place and expressed his opinion that it should have been a red card for Havertz.
In the author’s view, releasing such a statement was not the right move for Arsenal. While it’s understandable that Mikel Arteta and the club may have been frustrated with the refereeing decisions, publicly criticizing match officials is not always the best course of action. Refereeing can be a challenging job, and while improvement is necessary, it’s important to remember that players and managers also make mistakes.