FA to write Arteta a letter amid outburst at referees after Arsenal's defeat to Newcastle

Arteta branded the refereeing display at St James' Park as 'embarrassing' in an extraordinary rant after Anthony Gordon scored a controversial winner.

And the FA will respond by writing to Arsenal and Arteta for their observations on the comments made, according to The Times.

Only afterwards will they decide whether or not the Gunners boss has fallen foul of rules surrounding abuse directed at the officials.

Arteta had called the VAR decision not to rule out Gordon's goal "an absolute disgrace" before branding the refereeing standards "embarrassing".

Arsenal then posted a statement on social media that they "wholeheartedly" agreed with their manager's post-match comments.

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The FA have made a conscious effort to crack down on abuse directed at referees and match officials this season, with new rules brought in that sees players booked for surrounding the referee, among others.

Post-match comments from players, managers or officials could receive a charge or warning if they "imply bias, attack their integrity, are personally offensive, prolonged, or particularly unreasonable".

While Arteta made some strong comments on Saturday, he and the club are confident they have not broken any rules.

They insist that they were not personally offensive to match officials nor did they call their integrity into question.

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Mikel Arteta doubles down on VAR outburst: 'It is my duty to defend Arsenal'

However, such explosive language could see Arteta still fall foul, largely due to the FA's hardline approach this season.

Arsenal's statement, meanwhile. follows a statement made by Liverpool in September that claimed "sporting integrity has been undermined" after VAR failed to overturn Luis Diaz's disallowed goal against Tottenham.

Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: "Liverpool wrote their statement mentioning 'sporting integrity' and looking at all options and suggested a replay.

"I thought it was quite dangerous. Arsenal's statement was quite dangerous too."

Arteta said: "My duty is to defend my players and club in the best possible way and this is what I'm going to do time after time, and I do it with the evidence and being as clear as possible.

"I and the club would do it again until this is right. I stand for the same words, that mistakes are part of football.

"[I will] give my voice and opinions in the managers' meetings in the most constructive way to get a better game.

"If you have a problem and you put it in your draw, the problem is in the draw and it's going to stink at some point. Let's talk about it, try to improve it."