Newcastle United 1 Arsenal 0Like the son of a sheet metal worker that he is, Alan Shearer spent Saturday doing hard labour. Repeatedly hitting the nail on the head, and occasionally missing, Shearer led Newcastle United to a first win here over Arsenal for five and a half years, principally, he said, by getting "wired in". The Newcastle captain then walked down a St James' Park corridor and sweetly buried another nail into Arsene Wenger's team. "I've never seen Patrick Vieira pulling out of challenges," Shearer said.

Shearer was responding to Wenger's frustration. Long, loud and understandable were Wenger's complaints that Shearer, in particular, and Newcastle in general, got away with aggression that sometimes was illegal - one Shearer challenge even provoked a reaction from his friend Sol Campbell.

But Wenger should have focused his ire on a weak performance by the referee Dermot Gallagher rather than Shearer. Gallagher's lack of understanding meant the player he dismissed on 57 minutes, for two minor fouls, was Gilberto Silva. He is not exactly Lee Bowyer when it comes to physicality. Had Wenger focused more on Gallagher, Shearer might not have lanced the Arsenal manager with that post-match barb about Vieira.

There could well be a part of Wenger that thinks Vieira is still at Highbury; certainly he cannot have talked about any single player as much this season. It was the same again on Saturday, Vieira's physical absence merely reinforcing his continued presence as an issue. And as the game flowed away from Arsenal at the beginning of the second half, every missed tackle, every pale challenge brought Vieira's name back again. Last December, for example, Arsenal had come here and endured a battle but one they won 1-0. Vieira was the scorer.

Wenger could point out that Vieira also played in all four of Arsenal's away defeats last season. But Arsenal did not lose at West Bromwich last season or at Middlesbrough or here. These are unfamiliar places for Wenger to see his side go down.

It is five defeats on the road already. It was three years and two months since Arsenal lost back-to-back Premiership matches but, after Bolton the previous Saturday, that has happened again and the Gunners are fifth in the table, 17 points behind Chelsea. Arsenal host Chelsea on Sunday and have a game in hand but, even if they were to win both, that would leave them 11 points adrift of Jose Mourinho's side.

It does not appear, then, that Arsenal will be going into the new Emirates Stadium as England's champions. Asked if Chelsea are out of sight, Wenger replied: "At the moment, yes, but in fairness that is not my biggest worry." He refused to be precise on what is and instead returned to the theme of intent. Newcastle had gone "first for the man". That is a serious allegation even if it was masked in a joke - "and people say it is okay! We'll make it a judo party."

Even Wenger then conceded that this was by no means the worst treatment Arsenal have received but he is worried that "the newspapers" are creating "a reputation" for Arsenal, one that says they can be intimidated. Yet a team creates a reputation for itself. Arsenal's now is one of butterfly beauty and there were moments in the first half when the London side flitted around Newcastle, a blur of movement and colour.

A goal then and Newcastle may have imploded; they were happy to get to half-time level. When Shearer, fairly, won a header five minutes after the restart, Scott Parker sent the knockdown scurrying over the bar. St James' found its voice. Seven minutes later Gilberto brought down Jean-Alain Boumsong and the red card came out. Newcastle sensed their chance and after Robin van Persie wasted a hard-worked position, Shearer showed him what determination means.

With eight minutes to go Shearer looked as if Nolberto Solano's cross had got away from him but as he ran into a potential clash with Cesc Fabregas, the elder man's desire meant it was no contest. Shearer returned the ball to Solano who drilled in a diagonal shot low beyond Jens Lehmann. The whole ground knew what it meant for Graeme Souness. There was a lesson there for Wenger, too.