Football: Wenger's home is not a happy one

Arsenal 0 Newcastle United 1

Arsene Wenger knew exactly where Arsenal had gone wrong, not just on Saturday in a powerful but dishevelled match that they should have won, but throughout the season. Kenny Dalglish knew exactly what Newcastle did right on the day - defend safely - and is well on the way to putting a lot right in time for next season's title challenge.

It was Wenger himself who volunteered the opinion that a defensively more secure Newcastle would indeed be among the challengers next term and could be a force in Europe - either in the Champions' League or Uefa Cup, depending largely on Thursday's visit to Old Trafford - but he was less positive about his own side. "Our fault this season has been that we have failed to overcome the top teams on our own ground," he said.

Defeat by Newcastle followed those by Manchester United and Liverpool earlier in the year and of the current top eight clubs, they have beaten only Sheffield Wednesday.

His summer priority is "to buy younger players to bring freshness to the squad", meaning that the long-serving defenders will be under threat. Lee Dixon says he is ready for at least another season, but Tony Adams badly needs a rest, as does Ian Wright whose staleness was a crucial, troublesome factor in Saturday's defeat. Wenger is not counting Adams out of England's World Cup matches but wants him to miss the friendlies.

The ankle injury which bothered Adams after the game against Georgia was aggravated early on against Newcastle, but his absence from the second half, after being clattered by Faustino Asprilla, was by no means the fundamental reason for Arsenal's defeat. By the time he retired, Arsenal were a goal down having slipped on an opening created by Darren Peacock's chip into their area and Robbie Elliott's delicate header.

The cause was too much thoughtless hammering through the middle of the field and too little tapping of talent, particularly that of Dennis Bergkamp, who was expected to do too much of the grafting. But then there was also a superb, match-long display of defending by Newcastle's Steve Watson.

Certainly Newcastle needed that new-found steel at the back, but with Paul Merson ineffective, David Platt prone to wastefulness and Wright short of his real edge, they were fortunate to catch Arsenal in a squandering mood. Even so, they depended a lot on Pavel Srnicek, playing only his first senior game this year, who had one of those days when even water would have stuck to his hands, and they had to battle out the last part with 10 men, Keith Gillespie having been sent off.

Possibly, apart from being jaded and, like so many others, carrying the remnants of various injuries, another cause of Wright's inability to finish was that he had his name taken in the opening minutes. Rightly so, but quite what contribution the referee, Martin Bodenham, thought he was making by nine bookings in a match that because of its importance to both teams would inevitably be fierce, only he will know. A referee who mistakes such a game's frenzy for fury does it no favours.

Goal: Elliott (44) 0-1.

Arsenal (3-5-2): Seaman; Adams (Parlour, 45), Bould, Keown; Dixon, Vieira, Platt (Anelka, 60), Merson, Winterburn; Wright, Bergkamp. Substitutes not used: Marshall, Hughes, Lukic (gk).

Newcastle United (4-3-1-2): Srnicek; Barton, Peacock, Watson, Beresford; Lee (Clark, 29), Batty, Elliott; Asprilla (Gillespie, 52); Ferdinand, Shearer. Substitutes not used: Beardsley, Ginola, Hislop (gk).

Bookings: Arsenal Wright, Dixon, Bergkamp, Vieira; Newcastle Watson, Ferdinand, Asprilla, Batty, Gillespie. Sending-off: Gillespie.

Referee: M Bodenham (Looe).

Man of the match: Watson. Attendance: 38,179.