‘Totally wrong’ - Newcastle United boss stunned by ‘lucky’ Arsenal decision in 1-0 win

Newcastle won the match 1-0 thanks to Anthony Gordon’s second half strike but the main talking point of the first half from the hosts’ perspective was whether Havertz should have remained on the pitch for a high tackle on Longstaff.

The Arsenal man left the ground before connecting with Longstaff’s ankle but was only shown a yellow card by referee Stuart Attwell. Fabian Schar, Anthony Gordon and Longstaff were then booked for protesting the decision in what was a double blow for The Magpies.

While Howe admitted he would have to see the incident again before confirming his opinion, his initial reaction was that Havertz could have been sent off.

“We were close to the incident, I thought it was high and potentially dangerous,” he said. “He was lucky to get a yellow. There was a lot of yellow cards and I don’t think there needed to be - it wasn’t a dirty game but there were a few flash points.”

But what particularly angered Howe was that potential serious foul play from an Arsenal player resulted in three of his players handed a first-half booking.

“That’s what I couldn’t believe,” Howe added. “A bad tackle from their player in my opinion and they end up with three bookings, they end up with one, that doesn’t seem right to me.

“Not only that our player then has to go off and get treatment. For me that’s just totally wrong in that situation.”