Claudio Ranieri and Mikel Arteta in heated confrontation over Arsenal’s winning goal against Watford

Claudio Ranieri did not look pleased with Mikel Arteta at full time following Watford's 1-0 loss to Arsenal.

A solitary goal from Emile Smith Rowe gave the Gunners a hard fought victory against the Italian manager's side and at full time both managers had some words to say to each other.

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There was no questioning the quality of the strike from the Arsenal youngster, but what left Ranieri unhappy at full time was the build up to the goal.

After seeing his team mate down on the pitch, Danny Rose kicked the ball out of play so that he could receive some treatment.

However, when the game restarted, Arteta's players opted not to give the ball back to Watford and in not doing so led to the winning goal.

Watford players were visibly unhappy with their opponents but after a VAR check, the referee saw nothing wrong with the build up and allowed the goal to stand.

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As any manager would, Arteta was defending his team to Ranieri and explained what happened when quizzed about it after the game.

"I have to defend my players my team and my club," Arteta said.

"We are the most honest all of them. Even at some stages we are naïve.

"If he felt like that I apologise, but there was no intention to take an advantage."

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Even with Arteta's apology, Ranieri was still unhappy and confused about the decision to let the goal stand.

"One thing I would like to know, when there is a man on the ground, everybody expects the ball to go back.

"Then we get the ball with [Ismaïla] Sarr, we started to go on the counter-attack and there was a big foul on Sarr.

"They then score the goal."

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With that said, Watford could not complain too much about the result.

Ben Foster was in fine form in their goal having made fine stops from Gabriel from a corner and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from the penalty spot.

They could of however snatched a late point after Josh King rounded Aaron Ramsdale but unfortunately for him the angle was too tight and he could only find the side netting.

It's set to be a big two weeks now for the former Premier League winning manager who will look to use the international break to help his side steer clear from the relegation zone.