Mikel Arteta addresses Arsenal 'conspiracy theory' after controversial decisions

Arsenal manager rubbished suggestions there might be a conspiracy against his team after a number of contentious decisions.

The Gunners have seen three players sent off over the course of their first nine matches this season. and were shown second yellows for delaying the restart in separate games, while came after a lengthy VAR check.

After those nine matches, find themselves five points adrift of league leaders . Arteta's team are up against on Saturday lunchtime, with City away at later the same afternoon.

Arsenal were left unhappy last season when . However, Arteta opted not to fuel the flames of conspiracy talk which has begun to take hold among some supporters.

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"No, because every club has got its history and they have games and situations and comments," Arteta told reporters when asked if he felt there was a conspiracy. "That is part of the game and we have to understand it as it is.

"Every decision I make I am going to be criticised, or nobody is going to understand or they will understand and praise it. There are always going to be opinions about our jobs, that’s normal."

He also expressed a desire to move on from his dispute with the PGMOL over last season's Newcastle game. "It is a year. A year in football is a long, long time," he said.

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Arteta also issued updates on Arsenal's injury-afflicted stars ahead of the trip north. and Jurrien Timber both returned against in the last league game, but Gabriel was forced off during the 2-2 draw.

"Riccy [Calafiori] and Martin [Odegaard] are out definitely," . "With Ben [White] we don’t know yet. He could not train so let’s see what happens. If [Gabriel] can complete that training session today, he will be in the squad."

Asked more directly about Odegaard, who has been out of action since September, the manager added: "Now is the stage when he’s going to start to do certain work with us. Let’s see if he deals with pain if physically he’s able to compete. With the work he’s put in, I would be surprised if when he’s back training with us we don’t say he’s ready."

Opponents Newcastle are still without , but fellow forwards Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak could feature. "They both feel OK. We will assess how they feel today," Eddie Howe told reporters on Friday.

"Sometimes 48 hours after the game you can feel different to 24 hours. It's not necessarily a straight line with how the body feels. They have both had niggling injuries so we’ll make a decision today."

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