Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has failed to apologize for his team's toughness in winning the game.

The Magpies traveled to Germany on Monday to add another major feather to their cap this season by beating Premier League rivals Arsenal on Saturday night before Tuesday night's Champions League showdown with European giants Borussia Dortmund.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was left exasperated after his side's 0-1 loss at St. James' Park, which was secured by Anthony Gordon's solo goal, but it was only after three separate VAR checks - much to the Spaniard's disgust - that it was Spared. The way the Magpies crippled his attack didn't make him feel any better.

However, Howell said, "We don't intend to provoke anyone, we just want to win the game."

"I want the players to support each other and I want them to play competitive soccer. I wanted us to be strong in certain moments - we had to be - and I thought we did all of that on Saturday.

"I don't have any problem with the way we played".

Newcastle captain Jamal Lascelles was furious with Arsenal captain Jorginho, who was denied a handshake by Bruno Guimarães who flung his arms around him after the final whistle.

Howell said: 'We just played the game. Look, I think we played hard, we played hard because we wanted to win. But I think we played fair and we'll do the same thing again."

Asked if he enjoyed the dirty side of the game, fellow Lascelles defender Fabian Schaal was equally unrepentant.

The Swiss international said, "I like to win at all costs. Sometimes that's exactly what we need.

"A game could have gone in a different direction. We know what we need to do.

"Sometimes you play well and sometimes, like in Saturday's game, you have a very tense and intense game with a lot of fouls. There are things off the field as well.

"But I really don't care, the important thing is the three points.

The win against the Gunners came at a cost, with left-back Dan Burn set to miss two months after suffering a vertebrae injury in a high challenge, while potential replacement Matt Targett could be out for a month with a hamstring injury.

That leaves Howe severely under-resourced in Germany, with winger Jacob Murphy, who has required surgery for two shoulder dislocations, set to be placed on the absentee list, which also includes the suspended Sandro Tonali, the injured Sven Botman and Alexander Isaac, as well as Javi Javi Barnes, Javier Manquillo and Elliott Anderson.

Newcastle, who beat Borussia Dortmund at St James' Park two weeks ago, were already facing a tough test, but Saturday's 0-4 home defeat to arch-rivals Bayern Munich still left them heartbroken, and while the difficulty may have increased markedly, Schar relished the prospect of running in front of a crowd of more than 81,000 for what appears to be a new career high for him this week.

Said the 31-year-old Schar: "Honestly, it's definitely the best time of my career. You play in the best league, you play for yourself and I feel very comfortable.

"It feels like my second home here. I've been here for four or five years now so I feel very confident and obviously the city and this club make me feel very confident. They've given me a lot and I just want to give back to them.