Newcastle United striker Nick Woltemade opened up the heated on-field battle with Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes during their 2-1 defeat at St. James’ Park. Woltemade was critical of Magalhaes' challenge, saying the Brazilian’s elbow shouldn’t be in his face.Newcastle were close to winning four consecutive home games against Arsenal across competitions after they were 1-0 up until the 83rd minute, courtesy of Woltemade’s 34th-minute header. However, Arsenal staged a dramatic comeback, thanks to an 84th-minute equalizer by substitute Mikel Merino and a 96th-minute winner by Magalhaes.After Newcastle opened the scoring, Woltmade appeared to be elbowed in the face by Magalhaes, but the challenge went unpunished. The incident led to a heated confrontation between the two players, prompting referee Jarred Gillet to step in and restore order.Speaking about the incident after the match, Woltemade told Sky Sports:"After the goal, there was a situation where I felt his elbow in my face at two metres, so his arm had to be really high. I don’t want to fall down. I just said it to the referee that I felt something in the face, and I think it's not right to feel something in the face. I'm not the type of player to fall down for this. It's hard because sometimes maybe you have to do this, but this is not my type of football. He said sorry after, so I think he knew he hit me in my face. I didn't solve the situation to be honest.”When asked why he refused to shake Magalhaes's hand after the incident, he responded:"I don't like this. If you do some things in-game and then a few seconds later you say sorry, that's not part of the game. I like the situation where you can have a good battle, but it always has to be fair. His elbow should not be in my face."Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on closing the gap on Liverpool after 2-1 win over NewcastleMikel Arteta was delighted with his team’s performance after they came from behind to win 2-1 against Newcastle. The Spaniard praised the Magpies for the way they played and expressed confidence in his team being able to play under any circumstances. He told reporters:“I believe the conviction of the team that we are and that we can play various types of games and the team still can deliver and win it in a convincing way. For me today it's one of the most difficult grounds. Again, praise to Newcastle, the way they play, compete, how difficult it is to play in this place but the team really took the game to a different level and I'm very proud to see that.”Arsenal are currently in second position on the Premier League table. They are two points adrift of league leaders Liverpool.