...ok, so we could try blaming someone else. The crowd certainly had a candidate in referee Graham Poll.

Poll has a bit of a reputation as an attention-seeker, and he'll be getting some of that after this match. It started with Thierry Henry, who had to be held back for several minutes before Poll could leave the pitch.

I can't really comment on Parlour's 2 bookings. I've no idea what the first was for. The linesman flagged for something which I can only assume was off-the-ball, and a Newcastle player was holding his neck as Poll came over to show Ray the yellow card.

The second yellow, maybe 10 minutes from halftime, was for a tackle from behind on Shearer. It hadn't been an aggressive game, and most refs would probably have given Ray a warning. But if Poll thought Ray had struck someone off the ball earlier perhaps he was lucky to have got off without a straight red back then, and perhaps he'd already had his warning.

But if Ray's sending off was dodgy so, it seemed to me, was Bellamy's. Ashley Cole seemed to make a bit of a meal of the contact between them. On the other hand, Bellamy had also seen yellow already. So even if it wasn't a straight red offence, it was probably worth a secodn yellow and he'd have gone anyway.

This was at 1-1. Arsenal had taken the lead in the first half through Pires. Henry flicked the ball up on the right hand side of the box near the goalline, facing the near corner of the pitch, and juggled it before scissor-kicking it towards the far post. Pires jumped for it but missed, and it fell to Cole on the far side. His quick low cross found Pires still on the 6 yard line and Bob just deflected it into the net.

Arsenal had been irresistable, and it looked every bit like being as comprehensive a win as last season's visit of Bobby Robson's team.

Then Parlour got sent off and Arsenal's domination of the middle of the pitch went. It only evened things up, and we looked just as likely to score again as they did to equalise. But now an equaliser was no longer out of the question as they gained the confidence to come at us.

The equaliser, early in the second half, was depressingly soft, though. A free near post header from a corner: a player (O'Brien) who should have been marked and a post which should have been covered (I'm not dure it wasn't, I know Gio was on that post just before the corner was taken).

Then came Bellamy's sending off, and suddenly we looked more likely to re-take the lead. But Laurent Robert had come off the bench and so Newcastle now had the pace to trouble us on the break.

And that's where Poll's really telling contribution came in. As Robert was put clear on Taylor he dallied (to be fair to Taylor the young keeper stood his ground which must have helped). Campbell came racing back and, I thought (it was right in front of me), made an outstanding tackle, poking the ball out for a corner. But the ref pointed to the spot and Shearer made no mistake.

With Arsenal pushing forward for an equaliser, it sadly came as little surprise when Robert was set free again about 2 minutes into the 6 minutes of added time. This time he didn't hesitate and made it 3-1.

It was Charlton all over. Total domination in the stats: according to the Jumbotron we had something like 10 shots on target to their 2 (I guess that doesn't include the penalty). But our finishing was poor.

Henry played wonderfully, but every time he made a stunning turn outside the box he fired the shot low and straight at Given. As did Gio. As did Parlour. And Kanu missed 2 gilt-edged chances at 1-0. The first a header from a perfect cross which he should have been able to get on top of and pwer home but seeemd to lean back and let it bounce off him and over the bar. The second a simply unmissable chance in the box where he tried to be too clever, selling dummies and flicking it in with the outside of his right foot. It spooned over the bar, when any kind of goalwards touch would have given us a cushion and changed the game.

Of course, we applaud him when these things work so maybe we shouldn't criticise when they don't. But there are times and places for things, and one can;t help but think of the man who is surely soon to make his first team comeback.

Francis Jeffers: yes please.

Newcastle's first win in the capital for several years (or thereabouts) takes them to the top of the table. Enjoy it while it lasts, Bobby.

My understanding is that Parlour gets a 2 match ban: 1 for this sending off and 1 for it being his second of the season. That'll see him out of the Leicester and Watford games in the new year.