The revealing data behind Newcastle United's defensive record this season after Steve Bruce's Arsenal comments

But what does the data tell us?

Speaking after the 4-0 defeat, the 58-year-old said: "We’ve given poor goals away. If there’s one thing we’ve done this season, it’s prided ourselves on not giving much away.”

Now, this is not to say the Magpies defence has been a weak point this campaign because it hasn’t. In fact, it has arguably been the club’s greatest asset.

But when your goalkeeper Martin Dubravka has a Premier League best of 103 saves so far, it does raise questions over how defensively solid Newcastle have been.

Newcastle, on average, allow opponents to have 13.3 shots at Dubravka’s goal per 90 minutes - the third highest in the division.

Indeed, Dubravka’s clean sheet total of seven suggests from the stats above that is more down to the brilliance of the Slovakian himself this term.

There are, of course, some heavy defeats to consider. Leicester City, twice. Manchester United and Arsenal.

That is perhaps more of a reflection of how United respond when they end up going two goals behind minus the extraordinary Everton fightback.

And finally, Bruce’s men also have the fifth-worst defensive record in the top-flight with 40 goals conceded, an average of 1.53 a game.

Overall, while Newcastle have strived - and succeeded at times in remaining strong at the back - the overall picture suggests United still have work to do to improve defensively.