Mikel Arteta sheds light on his post-match interview against Newcastle

Every stakeholder at Arsenal Football has been calling on the PGMOL and the VAR for the ways things panned out in the game against Newcastle which ended their unbeaten run in the league.

Arsenal's manager, Mikel Arteta blasted the officiating referees after the game against the Magpies. According to him, he was ashamed of the officials and this was a disgrace.

Arteta was asked about what he had to say about his comments about the Premier League officiating ahead of the UEFA Champions League game against Sevilla.

"It is my duty to stand in front of you, to stand in front of the cameras and give a very clear and honest assessment of what happens in the game. This is what I did, reflect very openly how I felt that the team played and how they game was conditioned by this result with the decisions that were made. It’s the duty, my duty is defending my players, supporting my players, supporting my club, defending my people in the best possible way and this is what I’m going to do time after time. I do it the way I feel with the evidence and being as clear as possible and I always do it. When we play brilliantly, to say that, when we have lost, to take responsibility, the first one me to do it. It’s the way that I am and I have to defend my club."

He was asked about his choice of word after Liverpool were victims of the VAR in the game against Tottenham.

"I stand for the same words that mistakes are part of football in any other way, and we are here to constructively improve the game in everything that we can, and this is what we have been doing. As a club, me the individual with my duty as a manager in the managers’ meeting, to give our opinion, our voices and to raise it in the most constructive ways together and [create] a better game, that’s all. That’s the only thing we are looking at collectively to achieve for everybody."

Arsenal face Sevilla next in the UEFA Champions League before they host Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday, November 11, 2023.