Mikel Arteta's Newcastle United message to his Arsenal players

Mikel Arteta had a few things to say – and show – to his Arsenal players before their visit to St James’ Park.

Only a win would keep the club’s title challenge alive. And a victory, for Arteta, would also avenge the "painful" defeat on Tyneside a year ago which cost his team Champions League football.

That day, Newcastle United quickly unsettled their visitors – and put them on the back foot.

Eddie Howe’s mid-table side went on to deservedly win 2-0 thanks to a strike from Bruno Guimaraes and an own goal from Ben White – and the performance was a sign of things to come from the team.

And Arteta, speaking after yesterday’s hard-fought 2-0 win, revealed what he said to his players ahead of the fixture against a third-placed team which is now pushing for Champions League football.

“They (Newcastle) are a better team, very well coached,” said Arsenal’s head coach. “The atmosphere they created was incredible.

“We needed a much better performance than in any game that we have played this season. I said to the players ‘to win today, you have to (put in), individually, the best performance of the season’. If not, you’re not gonna win here.”

Arteta also showed his players a video of that fateful fixture.

“We had to feel it," said Arteta. "It wasn't enough just to talk about it, we had to feel it, we had to see it, we had to recognise our faces.

“Not just the players, but what it meant for the staff as well. That's football. You can win or lose, but that feeling that we didn't do enough on the day, we had to put it right.

"I was looking at the video, so I didn't see their faces. You don't have to be genius to see it. The word was 'pain', and then the desire for revenge. I think they had that in their bellies.

"When you have question marks you have to resolve them straight away.

"When you have the emotions we had last year in that dressing room, you have to feel them again, realise how nasty they are and then find a way to approach the game differently because demands were going to be different from last year."

The rematch, which followed a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium in January, could have ended 4-4 given the chances at both ends, but Arsenal’s quality told in two key moments.

Visiting captain Martin Odegaard opened the scoring with a superb first-half strike, and Fabian Schar netted a second-half own goal after a strong run down the left from Gabriel Martinelli.

Newcastle struck the woodwork in each half, and they also had saw a penalty decision controversially overturned, while United goalkeeper Nick Pope made a series of first-half saves during a spell of Arsenal pressure.

Howe spoke after the game about his "frustration" at attempts from the visitors to "slow" the game down.

“We have won at very difficult grounds this season in different ways,” said Arteta.

“This game demanded something different to Stamford Bridge or against Spurs. We did what the game demanded, and that was really smart for us.”

Arteta's pre-match team talk shows just how far Newcastle have come since Howe's appointment 18 months ago when the team was in the relegation zone and incapable of winning home or away.

Now, United are seen as one of the division's toughest opponents.