We all saw Arsenal draw 0-0 at home to Newcastle United last night in what was an unexpected result between the two in-form sides.

Prior to kick off, many would’ve predicted a high scoring end-to-end action packed 90 minutes, with both sides going head-to-head with their attacking flair and defensive solidity.

The game was far from this, sparking many talking points as the Gunners could only collect a point at home.

Here are my five points of discussion:

The match officials

It’d be difficult to start anywhere other than the quality of match officiating at the Emirates last night.

I don’t want to be one of ‘those people’ that comes to slander the referee after their team hasn’t won, however the game was clearly lost by the ref in the first half.

Five yellow cards were shown within the first 42 minutes of action, three for Arsenal and two for Newcastle. All the respective challenges were fouls, however, to give yellows so early on in the conditions that were on show at the Emirates last night was poor.

It was clear that Andy Madley had lost control of the game, sparking it into an affair of trying to win over the ref with theatricals. By full time, nine yellow cards had been shown.

The penalty claims

This leads me on to the decisions made in the game and the inconsistencies of VAR.

Again, I don’t want to come across as reactive to Arsenal dropping points, but there were some solid shouts for penalties in the game.

I wouldn’t say that the late handball was a penalty, however when caught up in the moment and the high emotional tie to the game, the claims were fair but understandable as to why it wasn’t given as the players arms weren’t in an unnatural position as the ball made contact.

We have however seen similar given this season – but at this point do we even expect consistency?

The foul on Gabriel Magalhaes from the Arsenal free kick left fans, and players, seething.

In real time, in slow motion, from any angle, it was a foul. Gabriel was manhandled by Dan Burn with an evident shirt pull on show for all to see.

With VAR, with officials, how was this missed? We’ve seen countless ‘soft’ decisions in the league this season and too at the World Cup, I’d say this foul was far from soft.

Time keeping

As touched on at the start, we expected an enthralling 90 minutes, we instead were handed a game where just 43 minutes of ball playing action was recorded.

This accounted for five minutes added on at the end of the game – I don’t think anyone is sure how this works out, but I’d love to know.

A lot of this bubbled down to timewasting, players throwing themselves on the floor, arguing and decision making, all which the referee can be held accountable for letting the game get to such a feral state so early on.

After the World Cup saw double figures added on to the end of the 90 on numerous occasions, I half expected to see 20 minutes go up on the board, five made my eyes water.

Arteta’s touchline antics

When a match is so poorly controlled by the officials, it’s destined to turn into a boiling pot of emotion.

Both sets of players were charged up with the knowledge that with the right amount of dramatics, a decision could go their way.

On the touchlines the emotion was also high, with Mikel Arteta showing his disagreement with the decisions and too the time keeping of the referee.

The Spaniard was warned on numerous occasions for his behaviour, which is understandable with what rode on the game, however a sense of calm and focus was necessary as at some points and with the narrative of the game I expected to see the manager booked which is no use to anyone.

We need signings

Not a lot was spoken about the actual quality of football, considering there was less than an hour of it.

From an Arsenal point of view, we dominated going forward and early on looked certain to score. However, as the game went on, I feel Eddie Howes’ side got a firm grip on our game plan and shut down most outlets.

We still got through, and we had our chances to grab the game, however it wasn’t meant to be.

With the January window open, last night was a reflection on the fact that we desperately need new ammo.

There became a point last night where the game was crying out for an injection of pace and a new direction to get at goal, we didn’t have that on our bench – the depth is so clearly required if we do want to instate ourselves as title contenders.

A look forward

It’s not all doom and gloom, we sit eight points clear as Manchester City visit Chelsea on Thursday to action their response.

Next up is Tottenham away, there’s no explanation needed as to the importance of bouncing back, even more so on an occasion such as the north London derby.