Alan Shearer said Newcastle’s defeat against Arsenal “hurt” him.

Newcastle were beaten by the Gunners at St James’ Park as they extended their wait for a first Premier League win to five games. The 2-1 defeat was their ninth defeat in 11 and leaves them with just a single point from 15 – which is their equal worst start to a top flight campaign.

And while there is the mitigation of a difficult fixture list, Shearer said that he expected Newcastle to do better against a team that he does not include in the top bracket of Premier League sides.

“That defeat hurt me more than the City one or the Tottenham one or the Chelsea one because I don’t think Arsenal are that good a team,” he said on Saturday night’s Match of the Day.

Shearer is a high-profile critic of Mike Ashley and has previously spoken out against the owner’s austerity approach. He is also a big fan of Rafa Benitez, who said on Saturday that he was not panicking despite the defeat.

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“It was a bit of a scrappy game. Newcastle edged the first half if anything – Arsenal were a bit slow and did not have enough options on the ball, there was no working together of Lacazette and Aubameyang and Newcastle were quite comfortable,” Shearer reflected.

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“Torreira came on and changed the game. Arsenal were much the better team in the second half and deserved to win the game. He just kept everything ticking along. They were much more patient.”