Title challenge over? Toothless Arsenal fail another test to leave season on the brink

Arsenal’s longest journey of the Premier League season once again turned out be their most dispiriting. Two-and-a-half years ago, their challenge for a Champions League place ground to a halt against Newcastle at St James’ Park. Now a title challenge may have reached a premature end on Tyneside. Certainly, Arsenal have seven months to assess just how damaging a third defeat in four visits will prove.

With one point from a possible nine, with a second successive away loss, they have stumbled when they needed to surge. This time, the loss of points was not due to a loss of players. Arsenal finished with the full 11 but with a solitary shot on target. Nor could this be attributed to the officiating, unlike last autumn’s loss to Newcastle. Instead, they were unsuccessful and uninspired, shorn of ideas and incision. “We deserved to lose,” admitted Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta. “It is not about winning the title, it is about being our best version every week.” They weren’t, leaving him speechless: “We will struggle to find the words today.”

They needed a footballing eloquence, too. It seems as though Arteta’s gameplan has been pared back to keeping a clean sheet and scoring with a moment of quality. Instead, Newcastle did that, Alexander Isak’s early goal stemming from Anthony Gordon’s pinpoint cross. Just as they had done at Bournemouth, Arsenal failed to score.

They never even looked like it. They had plenty of possession but did too little with it. With Bukayo Saka shackled by the increasingly impressive Lewis Hall, Arsenal desperately missed the class of Martin Odegaard, the captain’s capacity to pick a pass and unlock a defence. Leandro Trossard, so often a talisman, was utterly ineffectual. Arteta may regret not starting Ethan Nwaneri, instead of sending a second-half SOS to the teenager. It was damning of Raheem Sterling that an unused substitute did not even get that.

Collectively, though, there was the sense Arteta had put too much emphasis on acquiring strapping six-footers. Arsenal had physicality but they needed creativity. And they met their match in a Newcastle team fuelled by running power.

Sandro Tonali’s style was sacrificed, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe preferring the Stakhanovite industry of the unglamorous Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock as he packed his team with workhorses, with Joelinton co-opted into the front three; out of possession, however, Newcastle erected a row of five in midfield, challenging Arsenal to pass through them. They could not. “We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly,” Arteta admitted. “They are really good at what they want to do.”

And Arsenal, their manager conceded, “lacked answers”. Declan Rice bobbled a shot past the post and headed wastefully wide in added time but Newcastle had the height to defend his corners. Trossard was denied by Dan Burn, with a superbly-timed challenge. Genuine chances were rarities. The best may have fallen to Mikel Merino, but Hall made a potentially goal-saving block with the number on his shirt. The left-back has proved a slow-burner of a signing but, 14 months into his Newcastle career, he is starting to catch fire.

So are Newcastle. It was a reminder of Howe’s capacity to draw a response from his team. Their ambitions seemed in danger of being crushed: by a five-game winless run, by procuring just two points from a possible 15. Now the mood has been transformed on Tyneside.

The Carabao Cup win over Chelsea was followed by a still more significant victory. Newcastle had kicked off in 12th place and performed with a determination and organisation to make a mockery of that. The roar at the final whistle indicated how much the North East public savoured their battling qualities.

It was a scrappy affair, defined as much by Newcastle’s battling qualities as a glorious goal. It was a by-product of Howe’s team selection. Right wing has been United’s problem position this season, the area where they should have bought. Their two finest wingers both prefer the left flank but, switched to the other side; Gordon illustrated what he can offer there. A wonderful, first-time cross was met by Isak, for this third goal in as many games.

Arsenal’s relief that Gabriel Magalhaes was passed fit gave way to disappointment he was outjumped by the Swede. Gordon, meanwhile, was effervescent and excellent. A disproportionate number of the Englishman’s goals come against elite opposition. Once again, a big game brought the best from him.

But not from Arsenal. No longer a guarantee of clean sheets, they conceded a 10th goal in six league games. No longer the masters of efficiency, they now only have three wins in the last eight. And they may note that both Liverpool and Man City have excellent records at St James’ Park. This felt the kind of test potential champions pass. Arsenal failed it.