Mikel Arteta offers surprise excuse for Arsenal’s finishing woes in Newcastle defeat

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta blamed the physics of the ball used in the Carabao Cup for his side's sloppy finishing against Newcastle United on Tuesday.

The Gunners slumped to a 2-0 defeat on home soil, despite dominating the stats sheet. They managed 70% possession and 23 shots on goal, but just three of those efforts were on target. Newcastle, meanwhile, hit the target from four of their seven total shots.

This is not the first time that Arsenal have been accused of lacking a cutting edge from open play, but Arteta insisted the Carabao Cup ball did not help his players on Tuesday.

On the ball, Arteta continued: "It's just different. Very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies differently, when you touch it the grip is very different as well so you adapt to that."

Arteta did go on to recognise the quality of Alexander Isak, a transfer target for Arsenal, and the difference such a clinical forward can have on a team.

"He was involved in both goals, unfortunately the two times that he had the ball in the box and that's what you have when you have the real quality up front," he said.

"They can make the difference. They're very clinical."

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