Mikel Arteta insists Newcastle are just another side Arsenal want to beat and that recent feisty encounters between the sides don’t add up to a rivalry.
Ever since the Magpies dented Arsenal’s Champions League ambitions at the tail-end of the 2022/23 campaign, the two sides have been involved in a series of niggly encounters.
Time-wasting was the complaint from Arsenal after a 0-0 at the Emirates in January 2023 while both sides felt players should have been sent off before Newcastle’s thrice-VAR-checked winner at St James’ Park in November of the same year; Arteta’s reaction to the defeat earned him an FA charge that he successfully disputed.
Both teams have won on home turf since, setting things up nicely for the upcoming two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final.
Perhaps sensing that this clash doesn’t need any added fuel to the fire, Arteta offered a measured take on what’s being billed as the ‘dark arts derby’.
”Rivalry? No. From my side I have full respect and very good words towards them and what they do and how they do it,” he said on Monday.
“It is not a rivalry, it is a willingness to win against any opponent, including Newcastle.”
Asked why showdowns between the sides seem to over-index on noteworthy incidents, he continued: “It is [the same] against a lot of opposition because the level is so high that the willingness of the players and the coaches and teams to win is there.
“That’s raised this season, when you see a lot of games, you see something different, and the temperature is different from the first to the second game of the season.”
Eddie Howe and his perma-tanned shadow, Jason Tindall, make for one of the league’s yappier touchline duos. And with the Magpies on a five-game winning streak in the league, their antics on and off the field are once again rubbing opponents up the wrong way.
In his own pre-game press conference, Howe said: “The popular stuff, I don’t really care what happens outside of Newcastle. The perception other teams have of us, it doesn’t really worry me.
“It’s all about us making sure we are happy with who we are and how we are performing.”
When it was put to Arteta that he probably feels similar, the Spaniard said: “We want to win in our way and how we feel and identify in our way of playing. Can you always do that? The answer is no, because of the opposition you play and they try to make things difficult for us but the idea is clear for us.
On Howe’s work at Newcastle, he added: “They’re a tough opponent for everybody because they’re a really good side, they’re really well coached, they have really good individual players. The same as it’s difficult to play against us.”
Having not won a major trophy for 70 years, Newcastle are desperate for another shot at the League Cup, a competition they’ve finished up runner-up in twice in 1976 and 2023.
Arsenal meanwhile haven’t won the trophy since 1993 and are under pressure to end a five-year wait for silverware since the 2020 FA Cup.
Asked when the League Cup became a priority, Arteta said: “From the beginning. It’s something that we discussed and were very clear – we want to win every competition.
“We are here and we have a squad and we have levels that requires that we approach every game in that way. We started game by game – now we are in the semifinals and we want to make it happen.
He added: “It [winning a trophy] is the icing on the cake. We work every single day to achieve that to bring joy to our people and there is not a single moment that stands out more than when you have that cup and you are offering that cup to the supporters and you are sharing it with the people you work with every day.
“They are memories that stick in your mind and hopefully we can create many more.”
I’d say pretty strong
…………Raya
Timber….Saliba..Kiwior…Zinky
…………Partey…Jorgi
………………Merino
Marti……Kai……..Jesus
Rivalry? Just a word a journalist used to try to get headlines….
Nah fuck them wouldn’t like to fall down to their levels with makeyup rivalry, they are stokes first cousins and wanna rough up the Londoners is all.
Let’s go out play our game hopefully score early but not get sucked upfield where they counter and Isak and Gordon play hell.
Nice 2-0 win be great but I’d nearly go double pivots and hold our own.
Don’t risk Martin and as bloggs said in blog probably kai won’t be right so same front 3 as finished game the weekend
Zinchenko? Nope. You need good defenders against Newcastle.
Raya
MLS Saliba Gabriel Calafiori
Ødegård Party Rice
Timber Martinelli
JESUS
Thinking of it…. Could Timber work as a right winger?
There is no rivalry. Newcastle are as far away as an English club can be in terms of geographically and they’ve never competed with us for anything of note other than an Fa cup in the 90s where we smashed them. They haven’t won a sausage in about 100 years and just because they have some sports washing money and a couple of decent players they have chosen us as the club with whom to have this faux rivalry. They are nowhere near us and never will be. They are the spurs of the north with a fan base of… Read more »
Yeah, there’s no rivalry. There’s been some feisty recent encounters where the referees have let them kick the shit out of us and cheat their way to points but that’s about it. Newcastle are nowhere near us either geographically or in the history of the game competitively. I hope we put four past them again tomorrow.
Since the PL began, Arsenal have played the Geordies 67 times and won 42 (drawn 12). Their goal difference against us over those years is -68 (worse then against any other team). Newcastle have been relegated twice since the PL began (Arsenal 0). In that time, Arsenal have won 20 trophies (Newcastle have won nothing). Never have they once challenged us for a PL title, nor have they come close in any cup competition with the exception of 97/98 (FA cup final appearance where they lost 2-0). They are 280 miles away geographically. Of the 51 clubs who have ever… Read more »
What’s geographical distance got to do with it? I happen to live near Newcastle but I’m an Arsenal fan and I have to say your post makes me feel most unwelcome. That’s a great way to alienate anyone outside the N5 postcode which I’m guessing would be the majority of fans. All the other points you make are valid but they are all in the past and fairly meaningless except in an historical level. The 115 club had a similar record to that of Newcastle before they won the arab lottery. Don’t know about rivalry, whatever your definition is, but… Read more »
Rivalries are often based on geography – derbies are considered big rivalries driven by location – Sunderland/Newcastle might be a good example for your neck of the woods. Glad to clear that up for you.
Thanks mate, bu I wasn’t looking for clarification.
Sorry northern gooner I really wasn’t trying to be alienating. Just saying that clubs which are geographically closer together are more likely to consider themselves rivals
That’s okay, but I still disagree. Barcelona and Real Madrid have a well documented rivalry yet they are slightly further apart than Newcastle is to London.
I honestly dont think physical distance comes into it. For instance, I dont think Arsenal has a bigger rivalry towards say, Crystal Palace than it has towards Man U.
Anyway, my point was that this tie is a very difficult one and we need to take a good result to St James’.
Sorry if it makes you feel ‘unwelcome’ (which is really rather pathetic, sorry) but Arsenal and Newcastle simply aren’t rivals and geography does play a part. Barcelona and Real Madrid are different as they have a competitive rivalry that Arsenal and Newcastle simply don’t. No geographical rivalry, no competitive rivalry = no real rivalry (beyond them both being PL mainstays). Such a strange hill to die on.
You might be right. Actually I was incorrect about us being the 8th furthest away. We are actually 11th (I forgot Brentford, QPR and Charlton).
‘The Spurs of The North’ lol
Will it be Spurs or Liverpool in the final?
Who cares, either one will leak a boatload of goals. Neither of them can defend to save their lives.
I can’t express how much I wish Arteta had said that. Premier League is too sanitised these days. I want the Kevin Keagen days back lol
What Arteta says: Rivalry? No. From my side I have full respect and very good words towards them
What Arteta means: they’re a bunch of cuntish thugs and I have therefore recruited the biggest most physical team in Arsenal history so we can smack dem bitches up and make those sorry Geordie supporters weep in agony.
I thought NUFC’s rivals were Sunderland. Makes much more sense in terms of geography and achievements. Maybe the bullshit link between Isak and Arsenal has given some toon fans delusions of grandeur
Sandcastle fans are just jealous of people who can keep their tops on for 90 minutes
My one concern with staying in the league cup is always how much it stretches the squad with the extra games, especially if you’re serious about winning it. Unless you have a huge squad it’s a big ask. We’re already at our limit with first teamers dropping like flies. Having to do this in two games against Newcastle, who love kicking chunks out of us is a bit worrying. What could be interesting though, is when we return to league action after the next two cup games, there could be a different dynamic if Forest get something against Liverpool again.… Read more »
Well we’re already in the semis so it’s either two games or three. May as well go for it at this point!
Let’s fuck up newcastrol
Our rivalry is with the referees more than Newcastle properly when we play them- pgmol always turn up for their Saudi buddies with questionable rules enforcement or no camera placement…
If your looking for a book recommendation for the new year, ‘States of Play’ by Miguel Delaney is a good read. If you need anymore reason to hate Newcastle, the Middle Eastern dick measuring contest between Saudi and Qatar, at the expense of the poor and marginalised is toe curling. It’s a fucking disgrace that the Premier League and the UK government didn’t intervene to stop the Newcastle takeover. Whatever my opinion of their current side, they always were a real club with a soul. Fast on their way to losing it alà City and PSG.
Daily life already boils my piss enough as it is but thanks for the recommendation! May look into it at some point as it does sound interesting.
Couldn’t recommend it enough scrubby. I had a passing knowledge of the term “sports washing” without really understanding it. Listened to Joe Molloy talking to Miguel on the Indo Sports podcast (also highly recommended) and decided to get the book. A real eye opener into the way the world works, couldn’t put it down.
Bruno G and Schar are suspended, we are at home. I’d say hit them hard and fast in the home leg. They won’t expect as much from us with all the injuries. Light into them from the first whistle. Play an aggressive man to man press in their half, don’t let them breathe. Without Bruno their passing reference is absent, they will cough it up. Hit them hard!!