Arteta plays down Newcastle rivalry, views silverware as "icing on the cake"

01/06/2025 05:30 PM

Mikel Arteta insists Newcastle are just another side Arsenal want to beat and that recent feisty encounters between the sides don’t add up to a rivalry.

Ever since the Magpies dented Arsenal’s Champions League ambitions at the tail-end of the 2022/23 campaign, the two sides have been involved in a series of niggly encounters.

Time-wasting was the complaint from Arsenal after a 0-0 at the Emirates in January 2023 while both sides felt players should have been sent off before Newcastle’s thrice-VAR-checked winner at St James’ Park in November of the same year; Arteta’s reaction to the defeat earned him an FA charge that he successfully disputed.

Both teams have won on home turf since, setting things up nicely for the upcoming two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final.

Perhaps sensing that this clash doesn’t need any added fuel to the fire, Arteta offered a measured take on what’s being billed as the ‘dark arts derby’.

"Rivalry? No. From my side I have full respect and very good words towards them and what they do and how they do it,” he said on Monday.

“It is not a rivalry, it is a willingness to win against any opponent, including Newcastle.”

Asked why showdowns between the sides seem to over-index on noteworthy incidents, he continued: "It is [the same] against a lot of opposition because the level is so high that the willingness of the players and the coaches and teams to win is there.

“That's raised this season, when you see a lot of games, you see something different, and the temperature is different from the first to the second game of the season.”

Eddie Howe and his perma-tanned shadow, Jason Tindall, make for one of the league’s yappier touchline duos. And with the Magpies on a five-game winning streak in the league, their antics on and off the field are once again rubbing opponents up the wrong way.

In his own pre-game press conference, Howe said: "The popular stuff, I don't really care what happens outside of Newcastle. The perception other teams have of us, it doesn't really worry me.

"It's all about us making sure we are happy with who we are and how we are performing."

When it was put to Arteta that he probably feels similar, the Spaniard said: "We want to win in our way and how we feel and identify in our way of playing. Can you always do that? The answer is no, because of the opposition you play and they try to make things difficult for us but the idea is clear for us.

On Howe’s work at Newcastle, he added: “They're a tough opponent for everybody because they're a really good side, they're really well coached, they have really good individual players. The same as it's difficult to play against us.”

Having not won a major trophy for 70 years, Newcastle are desperate for another shot at the League Cup, a competition they’ve finished up runner-up in twice in 1976 and 2023.

Arsenal meanwhile haven’t won the trophy since 1993 and are under pressure to end a five-year wait for silverware since the 2020 FA Cup.

Asked when the League Cup became a priority, Arteta said: “From the beginning. It's something that we discussed and were very clear – we want to win every competition.

“We are here and we have a squad and we have levels that requires that we approach every game in that way. We started game by game – now we are in the semifinals and we want to make it happen.

He added: “It [winning a trophy] is the icing on the cake. We work every single day to achieve that to bring joy to our people and there is not a single moment that stands out more than when you have that cup and you are offering that cup to the supporters and you are sharing it with the people you work with every day.

"They are memories that stick in your mind and hopefully we can create many more.”

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