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Arsenal beat Newcastle United by a slim 1-0 margin today, but Mikel Arteta made the headlines for the wrong reasons.
It was the last home game of the season for Arsenal, and they got the job done. While it’s admittedly starting to feel underwhelming now, the Gunners have at least qualified for the Champions League next season.
Given the way the past two seasons have gone, for Arsenal to leave that feat until this campaign’s penultimate game is rather worrying. This is especially worrying considering the Gunners were supposed to be a in a title race.
Nevertheless, it’s a marginal win thanks to Declan Rice's great goal, and one that went down to the very wire. Newcastle were probing the Gunners’ defense until the final whistle, with Nick Pope even entering the Arsenal half for a last-ditch corner.
All that said, Arsenal didn’t know they’d have Champions League qualification wrapped up until the end of the match. This is why it was particularly troublesome of Mikel Arteta to get himself booked.
Mikel Arteta danced with the devil during Arsenal vs Newcastle
Mikel Arteta was shown a yellow card by the referee for kicking the ball back onto the field after it had gone out. This was Arteta’s third yellow card of the season, which equals a one match suspension for Premier League managers.
Thankfully, Arsenal’s final game of the season is against Southampton, who are already relegated. The Saints are nailed-on 20th, and the Gunners are nailed-on 2nd. Therefore, the final game of the season is nothing more than an exhibition match, with nothing on the line for either side.
That said, Mikel Arteta wasn’t to know this at the time of his booking. While fans can laugh about his poor discipline now, he should thank his lucky stars that his suspension won’t matter. After all, it could have been the difference between Champions League qualification if the game against Newcastle was lost.
If Arsenal would have lost to Newcastle and Mikel Arteta would have been suspended for the Southampton game, who knows what could have happened? Arsenal might have lost on the final day, even against a team as woeful as Southampton. Then, the Gunners would have risked not qualifying for the Champions League, which would have been troublesome for Arteta's position.
Thankfully, though, it wasn't.