'Fantastic' - Mikel Arteta pays surprise compliment to Newcastle United ahead of Arsenal clash

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has called on his players to use the pain of their Champions League last 16 first leg defeat against Porto and put Newcastle United to the sword on Saturday night.

The Gunners suffered an injury time defeat in Portugal on Wednesday, but the last time Arteta's men lost in Europe, they bounced back by beating Premier League title rivals Manchester City.

And Arteta is hoping for a similar reaction against Newcastle, whose 1-0 win at St James' Park in November was steeped in controversy as both Bruno Guimaraes and Kai Havertz avoided red cards while the decision to allow Anthony Gordon's winner to stand was labelled as a "disgrace".

"That is the reaction that we need," Arteta said. "We want to create an atmosphere in the stadium from the beginning and I ask everybody to go there tomorrow night with full energy because the team is going to need it.

"We are in a really good moment in the Premier League and we want to continue to be there and tomorrow's game is vital to achieve that." Arteta's side head into the game on the back of five wins in a row that has seen them score 21 goals, including back-to-back victories over West Ham United 6-0 and Burnley 5-0. Meanwhile, Newcastle are unbeaten in four league matches but have shipped nine goals in four matches, which is a cause for concern given Arsenal's recent goal scoring exploits.

An 18-point gap separates the two clubs in the top-flight table but Arteta is anticipating a tough matches against a "really good team".

He said: "Normally they have a very different approach, especially when they don’t have the ball. So it’s two very different set ups (compared to Porto).

"Well, they are a really good team. They are very well coached, they have fantastic players. They have great spirit within the team and they are difficult to beat for us and for many, many opponents.

"With every club there is always a history. There is always what happened before, what is going to happen next. We know the importance of the game we just focus on what we have to do."