Normal service was resumed in the Arsenal goal on Sunday. While many including the manager and most of the players - it seems - had been believing the problem had gone away, I for one knew it had simply been swept under the carpet, as so many things are at our club.

I will give Fabianski the benefit of the doubt. He may well one day prove to be a good goalkeeper. Just not good enough for Arsenal. I do feel a little for our keepers, because the fault lies solely at the feet of Arsene Wenger. Had he brought in a world class keeper in the summer, and then been honest enough with Almunia and Fab to say “sorry, but not at this club” then they too may now be playing consistently at a level more suited to them.

Of course it’s easy to point the finger at Fab v Newcastle. But it was our other Fab who went AWOL in this game. Never before have we seen Cesc give the ball away so cheaply and on so many occasions. Of course this wastefulness then spread through the team like a bad dose of the trots. Either Cesc is still not fit or he has began to pine for home, which is a bad sign. If his heart is no longer with us, then let him go home in January so we can all move on.

Further to these issues, our defence seems far from secure at present. Clichy and Sagna had torrid games, as per the norm with Clichy, and our current central defenders are clearly missing the guidance of Vermaelen. Carroll and Ameobi clearly relished the chance to have a crack at us, and we came up short against them - literally.

Our current home form is a concern. We seem to lack ideas at times, but most worrying at the weekend was a simple lack of urgency. The game is only 95 minutes long and the time soon slips by when you’re a goal down, but we seem to rely on the fact we score late goals, and we often do once we have ran the opponents ragged.

We failed to do this on Sunday as we kept giving the ball away. Newcastle had long periods of possession, which Man Utd and Barcelona apart, you would not expect at home against any team. If you don’t have the ball, you won’t score. Simple as that.

Two tough away trips now will either make or break our title challenge. I fear the worst…