Lascelles 'so glad' to beat Arsenal as Jorginho snubs handshake

Jamaal Lascelles hit out at Arsenal's sportsmanship and said he was "so glad" to beat the Gunners after Jorginho snubbed a post-match handshake with the Newcastle captain.

A bad-tempered game at St James' Park ended the Gunners' unbeaten start with a controversial winner from Anthony Gordon, later labelled a "disgrace" by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta who believed the ball had gone out of play in the build-up.

The tension was stoked further on Sunday when Arsenal released a strongly-worded statement demanding the PGMOL "urgently address the standard of officiating in the Premier League" on the back of the game.

Newcastle captain Lascelles was left in an equally bad mood in the aftermath of the game, having attempted to shake the hand of opposition skipper Jorginho. The Magpies captain told reporters he was ignored by the Italian and criticised Arsenal's reaction to their first league loss since May.

"I'm just so glad that we beat them," he was quoted in the Daily Mirror. "Their captain Jorginho didn't want to shake my hand after the game,

"I was fuming, it's not on.‌ I would never refuse to shake an opposition captain's hand, no way. You can have as many arguments as you want on the pitch but shake hands at the end, it's part of the sport.

‌"For me, whatever happens on the pitch - handbags or whatever - you show sportsmanship and shake hands afterwards. He didn't do that, so I'm so glad we beat them. Players like that, I don't think it's acceptable.

"A lot of them walked in but I went up to him to shake his hand but he didn't want to - and he's their captain! There was a lot of that in the game but that's football and we managed it well and kept our cool."

Arteta: A disgrace, that's what it is

Speaking immediately after Saturday's game, Arteta did not hold back in his comments towards the team of officials at St James' Park, saying the standard of refereeing was "not acceptable" in the Premier League in a spectacular rant.

He told Sky Sports: "I praise my players for the performance and the way we played. We didn't deserve to lose the match. We lost the match because of the clear and obvious decisions. It's embarrassing. A disgrace. That's what it is. A disgrace.

"There's so much at stake, we put [in] so many hours. I am here to represent the football club and get my team to compete at the highest level possible. The margins are so small. It's a disgrace, it's embarrassing. That's how I feel and how everyone feels in that [dressing] room. You cannot imagine the amount of messages I got saying this cannot continue. It's embarrassing.

"I have to be here now to say it is not acceptable.

"I don't know how to feel. I am wasting my time. We are wasting our time. I don't want to be in the hands of people. It's difficult enough to compete against this team. It cannot continue. It's embarrassing. There's too much at stake. The consequences are too big."

Neville: Arsenal's public complaints are wrong

Taking to social media on Sunday, Gary Neville wrote: "I played for a club where a manager went mad after games if we felt a decision had gone against us. You feel like it's us against the world. I get it. Everyone hates us, the refs are out to stitch us up and theirs [sic] bias vs us.

"However, I can never remember the club writing letters undermining the system and the whole refereeing community.

"When I look back now I don't think as players we always covered ourselves in glory with refs and also at a big club we all feel entitled and you have to leave and retire to be able to see that.

"Arsenal's letter and even the Liverpool statement a few weeks ago (they had a genuine bad one vs them) are wrong. Do it privately. If I was Howard Webb I would stop apologising to them and get on with it. Managers and players make far more mistakes than refs!"

Carra unimpressed by Gunners statement

Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher:

"I've just seen the Arsenal statement and I don't really agree with that. This happened a few weeks ago with Liverpool and it was a different set of circumstances then in some ways - but I didn't agree with what they put out either at the time.

"I was covering the game on Saturday night and on the back of Mikel Arteta's post-match interview, I said I loved it. The reason I said that is because far too often managers before and after games speak cliches and don't tell is how they feel. He was passionate, really honest, emotional and it was great TV. That's the reason I said I loved it, but I didn't agree with what he said in terms of about not being happy about the VAR.

"I can understand there were three checks of it and the goal gets given. But I'm still scratching my head to think about what part of the goal Arteta and Arsenal are upset about.

"Put yourself in Howard Webb or VAR's position - they can't conclusively say whether the ball was in or out. So the on-field decision was carry on and they have to go with that. Is there a foul? Probably 50:50, but not a terrible decision. It could go either way and as a centre-back I'm saying to Gabriel, he could be stronger. And the last bit about offside, it wasn't given on the field, it was difficult. But VAR didn't have an angle to see it. So what do you want VAR and the officials to do?

"You could say we are the Premier League, could we have camera angles that covers every part of the pitch. I agree with that. But this is not another one to jump on the bandwagon with VAR and just batter the people at the Stockley Park. That's not right. Nothing was conclusive about the goal, so it had to be a goal. End of story."