Eddie Howe’s honest response to Arsenal’s late penalty appeal v Newcastle United

Eddie Howe believes referee Andrew Madley was right to turn down Arsenal’s late penalty appeal, although admits Newcastle United also would have appealed for it if the shoe was on the other foot.

Mikel Arteta was outraged by Madley’s decision not to award a spot-kick after Jacob Murphy handled Grant Xhaka’s cross.

The Spaniard complained to the fourth official, while most of the Arsenal team surrounded Madley to try and force a decision.

VAR reviewed the incident, and agreed with Madley’s on-field decision.

“The handball, I think if it was the other way around I’d be shouting for it but probably not with the belief it should be given because the distance is too tight,” Howe said.

“I don’t think Jacob’s arm is aloft, I think it’s by his side so, for me, that shouldn’t be a penalty.”

Howe and Arteta exchanged words on the touchline but the Magpies head coach insists there are no issues between the pair.

“I’ve got no issue at all. Mikel is a top manager and a top coach, I think he’s done an incredible job here. There were no issues between us.”

Arteta felt Arsenal should have had two penalities and described both decisions as “scandalous”.

The other incident the 40-year-old was referring too was Dan Burn’s shirt pull on Gabriel midway through the second half.

“I don’t actually remember the first one so I can’t give you a comment on that,” Howe replied.

On the goalless draw, which extended United’s unbeaten run to 15 matches in all competitions, Howe said: “I thought we were resilient, dogged, brilliantly defending all areas of the pitch collectively. We managed the game well, a lot to like - maybe not with the ball but they are a top team.

“They [Arsenal] are very good tactically, technically and in wide areas. We had to find solutions to those problems and credit to the players for managing that. The start was tough, we grew into the game in the middle, the end was always going to be us having to be really solid to get the point.

“There were a few that weren’t bookings but once the referee sets his mark then it becomes that a lot of tackles are a yellow card. I never think that’s fair, in fairness he was strong when he needed to be especially with the home crowd.

“We want to compete in every game, we don’t want to turn up to grounds like this and not give our best. We competed to win and we didn’t manage to do that but we certainly gave them a good game.”