Considering the razor-thin gap between the teams, Mikel Arteta was saddened by our lack of chances to score in our 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United.

In a game with few clear-cut chances, Alexander Isak scored a vital goal to give the home side the three points and the boss was disappointed that our own entries into the Magpies’ final third did not provide big enough opportunities to test Nick. Pope in the host’s castle.

“We were obviously very disappointed and disappointed with the result,” he admitted after the match. “I think we started the game very well, we were on top and after a great cross and finish we found ourselves 1-0 down.

“I think the energy and momentum has changed. We were dragged too far into the game they wanted to play and we weren’t good or consistent enough to get out of it. When you look at the chances, possession and superiority, you see that there is no difference between the teams.

“We probably should have overcome that, but the reality is that when we did we couldn’t score and we couldn’t consistently pose enough of a threat against an opponent who was doing their job very well.

“They’re really good defensively, they take a very different approach when they’re ahead and we struggled to get them open. When we made the final pass, the quality of those shots and chances wasn’t good enough to really hurt them and of course we couldn’t score, even though we had three great chances.”