ARMED police arrested two men in their forties after a man was stabbed and sprayed with a noxious substances.

Officers went to the Coatsworth Road area of Gateshead after reports of the attack at about 8.30pm on Friday night.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said that they arrested two men, both aged 43, on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.

The victim, who has not been named and is thought to come from the Bensham area of Gateshead, was taken to the borough's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

His condition there is said to be "not life threatening''