Steve McClaren: 'Newcastle United need to defend well'

Newcastle United boss Steve McClaren has called upon his side to repeat the defensive performance that earned the Magpies a point against Manchester United last weekend.

The North-East giants meet Arsenal on Saturday just seven days after keeping a clean sheet at Old Trafford, and McClaren has admitted that they must produce a similar effort if they are to remain with just the one defeat during the current campaign.

The 54-year-old is quoted by BBC Sport as saying: "To beat any of the top-four teams, you need to defend well, be compact and heroic."

"We need to repeat that and be better on the ball, especially at home where we need to keep the ball better than we did last week. With a sell-out crowd behind us we can hopefully make it very difficult for Arsenal."

Newcastle currently sit in 17th place in the Premier League standings.