'He antagonises' - Mikel Arteta pokes fun at Eddie Howe - former Newcastle United manager furious

While the Spaniard admitted his team deserved to lose, he also claimed they were  “dragged into” a physical battle at St James’ Park. Arteta previously hit out at Newcastle’s perceived time-wasting ahead of Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat last season - not to mention his fury after Anthony Gordon’s controversial winner.

“You have to adapt and we didn't do that well enough,” he said after Saturday’s loss by the same scoreline. “I am very frustrated. We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn't play the game that we wanted."

It was these comments, in particular, which irked former Toon boss Pardew. Eddie Howe played down Arteta’s reaction but his predecessor was not as forgiven.

“I was really upset with Mikel Arteta because, sometimes, he antagonises the media and antagonises the opposition,” Pardew told talkSPORT. “He came out with a line of ‘We were dragged into a game they wanted to play’.

“I have had that as a manager before. You have beaten a top team and, suddenly, they are questioning your style and the way you have gone about the victory. There’s not a cast-iron beautiful way to win a game of football.

“You just need to win. Sometimes you don’t have to play a beautiful game to win it. You just have to be effective in what you do and the pressing and organisation from Newcastle was absolutely spot on. Arsenal had only one shot on target. That is what Mikel Arteta should really question - not the opposition.”