At the fourth time of asking this season, Arsenal found a ball and a result to their liking - denying the Magpies a clean sweep of victories and securing their own Champions League spot as a result. 

Despite a furious assault on his goal that saw him tested five times in the opening 17 minutes, David Raya kept the first clean sheet against Newcastle of his career at the ninth time of asking

A drop off by that had seen them win just one of their previous six Premier League games in addition to exiting from Europe, created the intriguing prospect of an away victory seeing United replace Mikel Arteta's side in second place with one game remaining.

It's not for us to say that the pre-match optimism of some away followers was misplaced, just that their confidence levels were some levels above what might be expected for a team whose previous visits here had harvested five points from a possible 48 - including a 1-4 humping last season.

That bullishness subsided slightly when the team news broke; Alexander Isak's absence for once not trumpeted - or invented - by social media slackjaws and Joelinton also sadly absent. The sight of Sven Botman was however welcome though, memories of his efforts here in January still fresh.

Callum Wilson was drafted in for only his second Premier League start of the season; having filled a shirt at Liverpool in February when Isak was tactically omitted ahead of the Wembley meeting of the two sides. It's to be hoped that a similar situation will see the Swede return against Everton.  

Wilson was in good company at Anfield on a night when the Magpies registered zero goal efforts, but here at the Emirates it was a rather different story: a collective scoring effort that saw Bruno Guimaraes, Tino Livramento, Harvey Barnes, Dan Burn and Botman all come agonisingly close. 

No opening goal in our favour came though, as it had done on any of the previous five occasions we've beaten the Gunners since coming from behind to do so at Gallowgate back in 2018. That the last four victories all included goals from either Isak or Gordon was equally significant - the impact of both was significantly missed today, even if one of them was on the field. 

The listless home side did have chances of their own, although they were in the minority: Leandro Trossard shooting just wide and Nick Pope blocking a Thomas Partey header.

That changed 10 minutes after the restart though, when Anthony Gordon was dispossessed by Bukayo Saka on the left hand side of the United half, allowing Martin Odegaard to advance before turning the ball infield to Rice. His firmly-hit first-time drive from the edge of the box swung away from Pope to belatedly bring a slumbering Emirates to life.

Howe responded with changes; Emil Krafth, Lewis Miley and William Osula introduced and ex-Gooner Joe Willock later also coming to a smattering of applause from home fans. The latter could have scored in the 83rd minute after working his way into the Arsenal area from the left wing, only to snatch at his shot and fire high and wide of Raya's goal.

Aside from a brief period when they showed interest in scoring further goals, the home side seemed content to coast towards full time and a post-match parade. That encouraged Newcastle's efforts to snatch a point, Pope's presence upfield for an added time corner adding to the muddle that became a melee after Burn challenged Raya, yellow cards and a VAR check following before the final whistle.

Those attempts at equalising and the consequent risk of being caught at the other end did nothing to help our mindset that avoiding going further behind was of equal or even greater importance. A single goal defeat was the least worst result in terms of limiting the damage to Newcastle's goal difference when compared to Chelsea, which remains superior by two. 

And going into that final day level on points with the Blues, it's not impossible that a further "tie breaker" could be required to separate the two sides. That statistic would be goals scored, with United currently five clear on 68 compared to Chelsea's 63.

After the emotions and frustrations of the game subside, our task remains unchanged from what it was before the first whistle here. Regardless of the outcome of Manchester City's game in hand and other results on Sunday, Newcastle will secure a Champions League place by beating Everton.

To do so would make it seven PL wins in a row at Gallowgate and 13 in 19 home games this season - the best top flight total by any Magpies side in the top flight since 2003. Against that though is the worry that even a partially-fit Isak won't feature, given that we've failed to win any of the four league games he's missed this season. 

If we do fail in our bid for Champions League qualification, it will be harder to justify the point (or points) dropped here as the cause, when compared to the games we failed to win at Everton, Palace or Bournemouth to name just three - never mind the failures on home ground.

What remains abundantly clear is that there's little point in participating in the top European club competition without a squad reinforced by senior signings rather than academy aspirants. Today underlined that the overhaul of personnel sadly also has to include Wilson's departure, while the sale of Willock needs to be sanctioned before he erodes any remaining value in the transfer market.

Were we to come up short this Sunday, gaining a place in a winnable European competition after a campaign when we reached the promised land of a trophy success will remain a cause for celebration not sorrow in our world. People have short memories.

Biffa