Newcastle United boss makes Bruno Guimaraes statement Arsenal might not agree with

Arsenal are out for revenge against Newcastle United this evening following the feisty encounter that took place at St James' Park three months ago.

Eddie Howe's side beat the Gunners 1-0 in November but the fixture was steeped in drama after the Premier League's Independent Key Match Incidents Panel ruled that Anthony Gordon's winning goal was right to stand - but pointed out two missed red cards.

Gordon’s 64th-minute striker was subjected to three separate VAR checks. The first check was to see if Joe Willock had kept the ball in play in the build-up, the second was to whether Joelinton had fouled Gabriel and the third was for an offside on Gordon. The decision to allow the goal to stand was branded as an "absolute disgrace" by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

The Premier League's Independent Key Match Incidents Panel is made up of five members, including three former players and/or coaches, plus one representative each from the Premier League and PGMOL.

And their findings revealed on a 4-1 vote that "although Joelinton does have his hands on Gabriel, there isn't enough to award a foul as Gabriel had made an action to play the ball before any contact". For the possible 'ball out of play' and 'possible offside' check, the panel stated there wasn't enough proof to disallow the goal on the two factual offences.

Despite Arsenal's outrage, the panel was unanimous that the visitors were lucky to keep 11 men on the field when Kai Havertz flew into a tackle on Sean Longstaff in the first half. They deemed "it was "a very dangerous challenge and the type of tackle that needs to be eradicated". But Newcastle also got away with one with three members of the panel believing that Bruno Guimaraes should have been sent off moments later for striking Jorginho's head with his forearm.

The Brazilian is expected to be targeted at the Emirates tonight and given what happened in the previous meeting, Arsenal might not agree with Howe's pre-match appraisal of the midfielder as he spoke about getting the balance right.

Howe said: “You need your creative players to fire and you need your defensive players to fire as well in a different way, and I think he got that balance right in the home game when he was very competitive but he was always very good technically. We need all of our players firing in all departments really.” 

Guimaraes will start for against the Gunners as he continues to manage the threat of a two-match suspension. He picked up his ninth Premier League yellow card of the campaign during the 3-2 defeat to Manchester City on January 13 but avoided a caution in the four league matches since.

“He has managed it really well so fan," said Howe. "He’s been his normal self, he hasn’t, for me, looked like it’s conscious in his mind when he’s playing because I don’t think he can be. But he’s played with discipline and done a great job for the team."

A 10th booking before Tottenham Hotspur visit St James' Park on March 13 will result in an automatic two-match ban, meaning Guimaraes will have to stay out of trouble in each of Newcastle's next seven league matches