Newcastle’s official social media accounts trolled Mikel Arteta about his comments about the match ball following their Carabao Cup win over Arsenal on Wednesday.
The Magpies’ X and Instagram accounts both posted photos of the yellow Mitre Carabao Cup ball following their 4-0 aggregate win, referencing comments made by Arteta after his side were beaten in the first leg of the semi-final last month.
“I think we kicked a lot of the balls over the bar and it’s tricky that this ball flies a lot,” he said after the Gunners had wasted 23 shots worth 3.09 expected goals at the Emirates Stadium.
“We discussed that as well, so there are details that we can do better.”
Newcastle posted a photo of a ball inside the goal with the caption “The culprit:” around an hour after full-time in Wednesday’s second leg. By 8.30am on Thursday, it had racked up 4m views on X, as well as 118,000 likes.
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The Premier League has already this week begun to consider imposing punishments on individual players if they feel goal celebrations are damaging the reputation of the game or could inflame opposition fans or players.
In recent weeks, a spate of celebrations designed to wind up opposition players and fans have drawn national attention after Iliman Ndiaye imitated a seagull in front of the home fans in Everton’s win at Brighton, while Myles Lewis-Skelly mimicked Erling Haaland in his goal celebration in Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Man City on Sunday.
Though Newcastle’s celebrations were confined to social media, it may raise questions over whether governing bodies may at some point also choose to step in if they feel the game is being brought into disrepute.
Speaking after the game to Sky Sports, goalscorer Anthony Gordon also appeared to aim a parting shot at the Gunners, when he said it was important to “stay humble”, a potential reference to Haaland’s message to Arteta after Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at Man City in September.
When asked by Sky Sports’ Natalie Ghedra about what the victory showed about Newcastle’s maturity, Gordon replied: “It’s important for us to stay humble now, we went on a really good run and had two results we didn’t see coming.
“This was a good game to put us back on track, but we need to keep our heads down and focus on what’s in front of us.”
