The English Football League have moved to assure there are no issues with the Carabao Cup ball after comments made by Mikel Arteta.
Arteta’s Arsenal lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle in the first leg of their semi-final tie thanks to goals from usual suspects Anthony Gordon and Aleksander Isak.
The Gunners dominated when it came to the stats, recording 69 per cent of possession and a whopping 23 shots to the visitor’s seven.
However, his side managed to get only three of those attempts on target, leading to him criticising the flight of the ball post-match.
Now responding to those words, the EFL said in a statement: “In addition to the Carabao Cup, the same ball has been successfully used in other major European leagues, including both Serie A and LaLiga and our three divisions in the EFL.
“All clubs play with the same ball, and we have received no further comments of this nature following any of the previous 88 fixtures which have taken place in this season’s Carabao Cup.”
The EFL made comment after Arteta’s words in his post-match press conference.
The Spaniard said: “I think we kicked a lot of the balls over the bar and it’s tricky that this ball flies a lot.
“We discussed that as well, so there are details that we can do better.
“It’s just different, it’s just very different to the 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 have to adapt to that.”
Arteta’s view garnered plenty of attention and also criticism, but he had the backing of one big figure, talkSPORT host and much-loved pundit Ally McCoist.
“Wait a minute. He’s 100 per cent right,” the Rangers and Scotland legend said. “I can guarantee you there will be a difference in the ball.
“He’s not making any excuses there, I didn’t hear him say that was the reason for missing chances.
“All he said was it was a different ball and you’ve got to adapt it, which I probably think would be factually correct, not having not having seen a Premier League ball and the Carabao Cup ball, but you do get different balls.
“He’s not making any excuses. It’s just a fact, a statement he’s made that it’s different for the players.
“But the fact of the matter is, his players should have scored with that particular different ball.”
Arsenal have a mountain to climb in their bid to reach the Carabao Cup final as they go to the second leg at St James’ Park on February 5 chasing a two-goal deficit.
The winner of the tie will face either Tottenham or Liverpool in the showpiece final at Wembley on March 16.