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

Arsenal are out for retribution against Newcastle United this evening after a tense match at St James’ Park three months ago.

Eddie Howe’s team defeated Arsenal 1-0 in November, but the tie was steeped in drama as the Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel concluded that Anthony Gordon’s winning goal was right to stand.

Gordon’s 64th-minute goalscorer underwent three separate VAR checks. The first review was to see if Joe Willock had maintained the ball in play throughout the build-up, the second was to see if Joelinton had fouled Gabriel, and the third was for an offside against Gordon. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta called the decision to allow the goal to stand a “absolute disgrace”.

The Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel consists of five members: three former players and/or coaches, as well as one representative from the Premier League and PGMOL.

And their results found on a 4-1 decision that “although Joelinton has his hands on Gabriel, there isn’t enough to award a foul because Gabriel had made an action to play the ball prior to any contact.” The panel determined that there was insufficient evidence to deny the goal based on the ‘ball out of play’ and ‘possible offside’ checks.

Despite Arsenal’s indignation, the panel agreed that the visitors were fortunate to keep 11 men on the pitch after 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 eliminated.” However, Newcastle got away with one, with three members of the panel deciding Bruno Guimaraes should have been sent off moments later for striking Jorginho’s head with his forearm.
The Brazilian is anticipated to be targeted at the Emirates tonight, and given what transpired in the previous meeting, Arsenal may not agree with Howe’s pre-match assessment of the midfielder, who spoke of finding the proper balance.

Howe stated, “You need your creative players to fire, and you need your defensive players to fire in a different way, and I believe he got that balance right in the home game when he was very competitive, but he was always very good technically.” We really need all of our players to be on fire in every department.”

Guimaraes will start against Arsenal as he continues to deal with the danger of a two-match suspension. He received his tenth Premier League yellow card of the season in a 3-2 defeat to Manchester City on January 13, but has not been cautioned in the four league games since.

“He has managed it really well, so fan,” Howe added. “He’s been his typical self; he hasn’t appeared to be conscious in his head while playing because I don’t believe he is. But he played with discipline and did an excellent job for the club.”