Jamie Carragher uses Newcastle to make pointed Arsenal response after Man City row

Jamie Carragher has questioned an Arsenal fan over so-called time wasting in the game aaginst Manchester City by bringing up a clash with Newcastle United last season.

Arsenal supporters expressed their displeasure when Newcastle secured a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium in January 2023.

That was a night when unused substitute Jamaal Lascelles even received a yellow card for blocking an Arsenal throw-in late in the game.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta grumbled that Newcastle hadn't 'played against any team like this', but such was his respect for the Magpies, the Gunners didn't hesitate to slow down the pace of the game when they faced Eddie Howe's squad in the return fixture at St James' Park a few months later and winning 2-0.

Arteta has consistently urged his players to learn from the 'masters', and Arsenal didn't shy away from running down the clock in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City on Sunday, especially after being reduced to ten men following Leandro Trossard's red card in first hald injury time.

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David Raya's goal-kick tactics and the repeated medical attention for several Arsenal players, including Raya himself, allowed for an opportunistic break and team chat during their match, with even non-playing substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly getting a yellow card for unsporting behaviour.

Die-hard Arsenal supporter Clive Palmer defended his team on The Overlap podcast, arguing "we shouldn't apologise for trying to win", but Carragher pointed out the inconsistency, recalling how Arsenal fans were irked by Newcastle's similar tactics in the past reports The Chronicle.

Carragher called out the hypocrisy, saying to Palmer: "You have had a bit of criticism and you defend your club in terms of your time-wasting," before reminding him that "the goalkeeper was going down, someone was going down with cramp, and you defend that.

"But a couple of years ago, you played against Newcastle at home and I remember you were going mad at Newcastle for exactly the same thing."

Despite Palmer noting that ball-in-play time was 'very low' against Newcastle in 2023 at just 51 minutes and 23 seconds and 'very high' against City, Carragher retorted sharply: "That was nothing to do with you."

Arteta himself hit back at accusations that Arsenal were employing 'dark arts' tactics against City.

"It's opinions and that's it," he said.

"Whoever says what they say are not going to retract their words. We will use the facts."

"We had to play the game that we had to play.

"In the first 10 or 15 minutes we couldn't, then we got much better.

"And then we were thrown into a very different context, every team does it.

"They played 30 seconds with 10 men, you look at what they did. It's normal. We had to do it in a different way."

"The desire the team have to compete in any context, to win, to adapt to different circumstances, different competitions, different ways of playing, and handle that emotionally and physically in the way we have done is superb.

"Happy? No, because we wanted to win the game.

"But understanding how tough that context is and how difficult it is and the things we have to deal with. And not only that, but issues as well with the amount of players we had out.

"I think it's a significant improvement and we have to be proud of that. But not happy because we want to win."