Newcastle United star’s classy response to what Arsenal and Mikel Arteta did at St James’ Park

Newcastle suffered their fifth defeat of the Premier League season as Martin Odegaard gave Arsenal a first half lead before a Fabian Schar own goal saw the visitors secure three points heading into the closing stages. It was a well contested match which saw both sides have plenty of chances, though only one took them.

“I’m disappointed, fine margins I think,” Burn told The Gazette after the match. “They scored from outside the box and an own goal, we had chances that we didn’t take but I thought it was a good game for the neutral.”

Newcastle started the match brightly but the game started to turn in Arsenal’s favour after the hosts were denied a penalty kick by VAR.

When asked if the decision and lengthy pause stifled United’s momentum, Burn responded: “A little bit. We always start games well especially at home with the crowd behind us.

“They’ve scored from outside the box which we don’t concede from very often and that killed the game a little bit. We’re disappointed but we’ve got four games to go and it’s still in our hands.”

Arsenal were also able to manage the game well and frustrate the home players and supporters by running the clock down. It seemed to be some form of revenge tactic after Newcastle were accused of doing the same in the 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium back in January.

But Burn had no complaints over Arsenal’s time-wasting tactics.

“Of course it’s frustrating but that’s what they said we did at their place,” he admitted. “We get a lot of stick for slowing the game down which I don’t know if we intentionally do all the time.

“They did that but it’s part and parcel of football, we can’t do it and then complain when it happens to us. A lot of teams tend to do that now when they feel the energy of the crowd, they try and stifle it a little bit. 

“When a team like Arsenal is coming here and doing that it is a compliment.”

Before the match, Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta showed his players a clip from the Amazon documentary All or Nothing: Arsenal showing the disappointed dressing room after their 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park last season. Arteta hit out at his players after the match, saying Newcastle could have won by eight on the night.

But playing that clip ahead of Sunday’s match seemed to have the desired impact as Burn felt that extra motivation from the opposition.

“Yeah [I felt it], we knew it wasn’t going to be the same as last season where we played them off the park,” he continued. “They’re a lot better this year and they’ve shown that all season.

“They’ve been unlucky that city have overtaken them but they’re a very good team who caused us problems, especially at home but we’re just unfortunate we couldn’t get the win.”

With four games remaining, Newcastle sit third in the Premier League table, three points clear of Liverpool in fifth with a game in hand and superior goal difference. Next up is a trip to face relegation threatened Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday (12:30pm kick-off).