Topics: Premier League, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Mikel Arteta
The manager of the Gunners was quite unhappy with the refereeing in Tuesday evening's encounter.

Mikel Arteta has slammed the match officials in Tuesday's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Newcastle United at the Emirates. The Spanish coach was left fuming at full-time after his side was controversially denied what he has since labelled as two "scandalous" penalty calls in their stalemates with the Magpies.

The Gunners approached Tuesday's meeting with the Magpies knowing that a win will put them 10 points above title contenders Manchester City and were poised to add to their remarkable run with another top performance. However, the North London club was left frustrated in the feisty affair with their opponents who came into the fixture in third position.

In hindsight, it was quite an eventful affair although neither of the sides was able to manage a goal to break the deadlock. Nevertheless, Arsenal fans particularly felt hard done after being denied two potential spot-kicks. The first was a foul by Dan Burn on Gabriel Magalhaes in the Newcastle penalty box while anticipating cross while the second was a handball incident involving Gabriel Martinelli and the Magpies substitute Jacob Murphy.

For the most part of the night's encounter, Arteta was visibly agitated on the sidelines. Right at the end of the game, tempers between the Spaniard and Newcastle manager Eddie Howe threatened to flare but for the intervention of the match commissioner. At full-time, the former Gunners' midfielder was unable to hide his frustration with referee Andy Madley and proceeded to slam the game's official for his shortcomings as his side dropped two vital points. 

Speaking to Sky Sports, Arteta said: "[I am] Extremely proud of my players. The way we played the game, the way we controlled the game and we missed in the final third. We had so many situations to finish them better and then we had two scandalous penalties."

When asked about the penalty decision that he felt most aggrieved by, Arteta added: "It is not about which one was stronger, we had two penalties. I am not talking about the referee, I am talking about what I saw and that was two scandalous penalties."