Mikel Arteta's blunt response to Newcastle United time-wasting claims

Eddie Howe told of his "frustration" at what he felt were Arsenal's attempts to "slow" this afternoon's game down.

But Mikel Arteta flatly denied accusations of time-wasting after his team's 2-0 win over Newcastle United at St James's Park.

Howe spoke about Arsenal's "game management" in his post-match press conference.

“They managed the game well from their perspective," said United's head coach. "They slowed it down. Lots of breaks in play, frustrating for us. Naturally, we wanted the ball in play more, especially when you’re chasing the game."

Arteta, however, denied that breaks in play for treatment were attempts to waste time. Arsenal's head coach said: “For sure, our team isn’t like that."

On stoppages for Granit Xhaka, Arteta said: “I don’t want to get close to that conversation with the game that we had to play today.”

There was some criticism of Newcastle's tactics in January's goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta said: “We’ve done what we had to do to win the game, and I’m very happy with that.”