Arsenal:
             Lehmann
      Eboue Toure Gallas Clichy
Hleb Cesc Flamini van Persie (Henry ht)
   Adebayor Baptista (Walcott 64)

Arsenal skipper Thierry Henry was rested, and Gilberto was absent in Brazil due to a family crisis. Both were missed. but at least Henry was available to come off the bench for the second half and scrape a point back.

For the first half, Emmanuel Adebayor played alone up front, with Robin_Van_Persie on the wing and Julio Baptista playing probably a kind of support-striker role, although for much of the game he didn't really look like he knew what his role was. Matthieu Flamini replaced Gilberto alongside Cesc Fabregas.

Adebayor combined well with Alexander Hleb on the right in the first minute, getting the ball to the right corner flag and laying it back for the Belarussian to cross. It found Baptista's head just short of level with the near post but he couldn't get over the ball and headed it high and short of the post.

A few minutes later Adebayor got the ball near that corner flag again and this time he crossed it himself, a decent one again towards Baptista which Given came to punch clear. It fell to Hleb just outside the box who dragged a low shot short of the right post.

Van Persie showed some nce footwork on the left to make space, then swung a shot or cross across the box and well wide of the far post. Bad enough to leave one completely uncertain of his intention.

A couple of minutes later (on 13) Adebayor's strong shoulder charge won the ball on the right of the box when he looked a big underdog to get hold of the ball forward. He laid it back to Emmanuel Eboue whose cross just evaded van Persie's far post run.

Then Cesc got involved a couple of times, first blasting a shot well over the bar and then combining nicely with Hleb... Cesc's first ball into the box from the right hit a defender but came back to him, and this time he slipped Hleb in down the line of the side of the box. Hleb returned it into the path of Cesc's run towards the penalty spot and this time Cesc's shot only just missed, flying inches over the top of the right post.

We were very much on top, even if we hadn't created a really clear chance. But moments later, on the half hour, the visitors took the lead with their first significant attack. A long ball from their half was glanced on by Martins' head, beating Gael Clichy in the air, and came to Kieron Dyer. He took it towards his left, with Eboue in front of him, then checked back inside all too easily finding space to shoot between the right back and the other defender (who, to be fair, had had to have his eye on Martins' supporting run) and, from the D, Dyer passed the ball past Jens Lehmann and inside his left hand post.

We didn't look rattled, but hardly looked galvanised either, continuing with the pretty but unpenetrating patterns. Van Persie hit a powerful shot from outside the box but it went straight at Given. Adebayor passed wide for Eboue and continued his run into the box, Eboue laid it back for Cesc who chipped forward for Adbeyaor but he could only head it over the bar.

On 44 minutes van Persie's nice turn and shot on the right of the box saw the ball miss the far post by a foot. Then in injury time we had 3 shots blocked in quick succession. First Hleb's from the right, which was deflected towards Baptista on the other side of the box. His was blocked back towards van Persie, running into the box behind him. He just managed to get to the ball first, but the ball was blocked by a defender right in front of him. van Persie ran into the man but somehow came up with the loose ball, only to hit a tame shot providing Given with another easy save. It was probably this move that gave van Persie the foot injury which saw him replaced by Henry at half time (not that Wenger wouldn't have brought Henry on anyway, probably, the way things were going).

Soon after the restart, Adebayor hit a good shot on the turn from just inside the box, forcing Given into a great one-handed save. The ball popped up in the air but a defender was able to get there first and chest it back to the keeper.

Henry got free down the left after Solano allowed Clichy to rob him, and took the ball deep. With no-one supporting in the box, he tried to lift the ball over Given and inside the far post, but the keeper got a hand on it.

On the hour Cesc was put through down the middle by a nice ball from Kolo Toure. He did well to control the bouncing ball but the poked shot was again far too easy for Given. Baptista was replaced by Walcott, a tiring player off for a livewire, which seemed a good plan.

7 minutes later, on 70, Henry was brought down as he brought the ball forward on the left, and he curled the ball over the wall and into the net off the underside of the crossbar, just inside the left hand post.

Newcastle resorted, understandably, to some outrageous timewasting, which was only penalised late-on when Given got booked for it. Cesc was booked strangely, for a 50-50 challange with Nicky Butt, who went down in agony but required no treatment.

On the flip side of this, the visitors did seem for a spell to be trying ot help us equalise. Cesc scuffed a shot which was then deflected and only just crept past the post, then Henry's shot was deflected onto the post.

With 6 minutes to go Given pulled off probably his best save of many (many of them having been trivial, to be fair). Hleb had broken forward and fed Henry, whose shot looked like curling into the far corner before Given stretched to get a hand on it.

There were some more scrambles in injury time, the best chance coming when Cesc's perfect cross was let down by Adebayor - placing a free header straight at Given.

Arsenal lose more pace in the title race. Portsmouth have taken over in 4th but we have to believe that that won't last. The worry is that with Man_United and Chelsea both a long way ahead, we can't really hope to catch them both. The other worry is that the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham, Bolton, even Villa or Everton perhaps, could hit a vein of form that would see them overtake us easily if we don't find some consistency. Looks like a chase for a Champions League spot again.