Arsenal hit with FA charge for failing to control players during draw with Newcastle United in Premier League

Arsenal have been hit with a Football Association charge of failing to control their players during the 0-0 draw with Newcastle United on Tuesday.

In a fractious game in which nine yellow cards were shown, a number of Arsenal players confronted referee Andrew Madley deep into stopping time to appeal for a penalty.

Madley waved away the appeals, much to the frustration of the likes of Granit Xhaka and Oleksandr Zinchenko, among others.

The protests continued after the final whistle, and the FA has taken a dim view of the events of Tuesday evening.

An FA statement said: “Arsenal has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E20.1 following its Premier League match against Newcastle United FC on Tuesday 3 January 2023.

“It’s alleged that Arsenal FC failed to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 95th minute, and the club has until Tuesday 10 January 2023 to respond.”

Following the game, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said he was proud of the efforts of his players, and critical of the decision not to award his side two penalties.

“I’m really proud,” Arteta said. “The way we played, the way we dominated the game. The approach that we had from the beginning.

“We lacked that spark in the final third to find the opening to find the right moment an extra pass and a little bit of finishing quality but we had a lot of situations in and around the box to do better. There were two scandalous penalties.

“The way we play, the personality, the cohesion, the determination, the clarity of the way we want to play, and they’ve been great but I’m especially proud of any way we play against any opponent.

“We were really chasing it, we were really wanted it. You could see that the team was putting everything in to take the three points. We lacked that in the final third and we lacked the big decisions.”

The draw allowed champions Manchester City to cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to five points.

Focus now shifts away from the league this weekend, with the FA Cup taking centre stage.

Arsenal face a trip to Oxford United on Monday evening.