Newcastle United - 1 Arsenal - 1:SOCCER/English Premiership: If Arsenal are forging their way towards the title, they are leaving a trail of question marks as well as exclamation marks in their wake. The thrill of their performances contains a puzzle, since their accomplishment does not always achieve its full reward.
Peculiarly, they also looked least likely to score in the period of over half an hour, after Laurent Robert's sending off, in which Newcastle United were down to 10 men.
The hard facts actually give the Highbury team the greater comfort. By stopping Bobby Robson's side from racking up a 12th consecutive home victory in the Premiership, they preserved a three-point lead. This result and the 2-2 draw at Anfield, when Emile Heskey equalised in the 90th minute, have been annoying rather than crippling.
Nonetheless, there is a murmur of disquiet about a side who are occasionally more stylish than ruthless. Arsene Wenger, too shrewd to agonise in public, kept his mind on the encouraging aspects of the trips to Liverpool and Newcastle.
"In both games we didn't finish it off, but the most important thing is that we created chances against good opponents," he said.
The little gesture of respect to Robson's team was not just a matter of etiquette. Newcastle may have been gauche before the interval but there is gusto about them that is hard to balk over an entire afternoon on their own pitch.
In the 90th minute here, David Seaman had to react sharply to touch over a deflected cross from Craig Bellamy that threatened to fly over his head. The goalkeeper thereby spared himself yet more discussion of any lack of spring in his long-serving muscles.
Newcastle, in any case, would make any rival feel his years. Alan Shearer is their own veteran figurehead, but he sustained a fierce onslaught from the fifth minute, when he prodded Robert's cross and called for a spry save, until he was taken off moments from the end in a substitution surely intended to honour him.
Some of his pugnacity has trickled into team-mates and it took strength of mind for Newcastle to reassert themselves after a first half when they could not hide from the knowledge of their inferiority to Arsenal. If their midfield, with youngsters such as Kieron Dyer and Jermaine Jenas at its core, is gauche, the youth is intertwined with an intrepid approach.
Robert summoned up all his own verve after 54 minutes to evade Patrick Vieira's attempted tackle, sidestep Gilberto Silva and shoot low into the corner of the net from 20 yards.
In the aftermath he was unable to contain an excitement that led him into one piece of recklessness after another, starting with the bad foul on Lauren that demanded a yellow card.
With 56 minutes gone, he twice stuck out a foot as Dennis Bergkamp attempted to take a free-kick and then booted the ball away in the direction of Lauren. The crowd considered the Arsenal forward an agent provocateur, but Robert had left Neale Barry no scope for discretion and a second booking for the Frenchman was inevitable.
Bobby Robson saw it differently. "I've been in to see the referee," he said. "We've had a nice chat, obviously different opinions, but football is about opinions, isn't it? All I said was I just think he could have handled it differently.
"Bergkamp wasn't trying to play the ball to anybody. He kicked the ball against Laurent - I've seen other players do that, and I don't like it."
Arsenal were more discomfited than Newcastle and never recovered their early fluency. Wenger, wittily, cited some rumbustious successes of yesteryear to claim that his side do better when they are the ones reduced in numbers; in reality a degree of tiredness on a heavy pitch may have accounted for the diminishing quality of both teams' play.
The conditions will not keep any of his squad from international duty. "All the English players are ready to play in a great game," he said sarcastically of the friendly with Australia.
Arsenal should have spared themselves some exertion by completing their mission in the earlier part of the game. After 11 minutes Vieira had met Thierry Henry's corner and when Nolberto Solano diverted the ball onto the crossbar Robert Pires should have been capable of heading home, but merely missed the target.
In the 31st minute, Henry crossed and Titus Bramble, stretching out a foot in an otherwise excellent display, seemed to have put through his own goal until Shay Given, with no time to raise his hands, cocked his head to block. It was an uncanny piece of work, but there is no improvisatory brilliance to thwart Arsenal when they work their favourite manoeuvre perfectly.
Newcastle, lamentably, provided the opening when Jenas could not tame Olivier Bernard's wild throw-in after 35 minutes and Gilberto fed a pass to Sylvain Wiltord. His flick was ideal for the lateral run by Henry, who cruised round Given to slot his 18th league goal of the season.
The satisfactions, all the same, were to be short-lived for Arsenal.
They did not have the perfect day, in which they would have increased their advantage after Manchester United's draw hours earlier, and Ashley Cole, with a fifth booking, will incur a suspension. Nonetheless they are in excellent shape and, with trips to Old Trafford as well as St James' Park behind them, they hold the advantage in the run-in.
"It's not so open now," said Robson. "We've lost a big chance."
Arsenal may be slightly annoyed with themselves, but their rivals bear deeper regrets.
Guardian Service
NEWCASTLE: Given, Hughes, O'Brien, Bramble, Bernard, Solano (Speed 45), Jenas, Dyer, Robert, Bellamy, Shearer (Ameobi 90). Subs Not Used: LuaLua, Caig, Dabizas. Sent Off: Robert (58). Booked: Shearer, Robert. Goals: Robert 53.
ARSENAL: Seaman, Lauren, Keown, Campbell, Cole, Wiltord (van Bronckhorst 85), Silva (Parlour 85), Vieira, Pires, Bergkamp (Jeffers 78), Henry. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Cygan. Booked: Lauren, Cole. Goals: Henry 35.
Referee: N Barry (N Lincolnshire).
