JUST like the four matches against top teams had finished beforehand, Newcastle United suffered defeat by the odd goal against Arsenal to leave the St James’ Park crowd wondering when the first three points of the season will arrive.

These aren’t worrying times on Tyneside, but the next two games could well alter that if the Magpies can’t come up with a way to deliver a first win – probably even two – against Crystal Palace and Leicester City, before the trip to Manchester United on October 6.

Newcastle are winless in five Premier League fixtures, regardless of the opposition they have faced, and occupy a relegation place.

Not since Ruud Gullit’s ill-fated reign at the beginning of the 1999-00 season have Newcastle endured such a poor start to a campaign.

But Newcastle’s players and Rafa Benitez are not under fire because the fans appreciate there are factors behind their position, not least the fact that they have had to face Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham, arguably, the toughest start of any top-flight side this season.

There is also the fact that Benitez didn’t get what he wanted from the summer transfer window, which is why it is Mike Ashley who continues to be the villain in the supporters’ eyes.

Newcastle can no longer use the difficult run of fixtures as an excuse for their form, they need to start securing victories and pose a greater threat in front of goal in the weeks ahead if they are to climb away from trouble sooner rather than later.

Even though Newcastle only lost by one goal and turned in a promising enough first half performance against the Gunners, the reality is that they didn’t even look like scoring until Ciaran Clark’s stoppage-time header proved too little, too late.

It was not that Newcastle lacked intention because, unlike certain fixtures this season, they did look to counter and create. The problem, though, was that they lacked the sort of quality and creativity in the final third to unlock the Arsenal defence.

And while there is criticism for the way Newcastle have shaped up this season to try to spring a surprise result, the players are maintaining that nothing has changed from last season when similar tactics helped lead them to a tenth-place finish.

Mo Diame, the Newcastle midfielder, said: “We are playing the same way. People keep saying about how we are defending more, but we played exactly the same way against Manchester City last year, and Chelsea.

“We had our way to play, now these games are over and we now have attack the next games. We have played Arsenal, we will play Man United soon, we will keep going.

“The season has already started, we can’t forget about the games we have had, we have to keep believing in what we are doing and trying to win games because that is why we are here. We need to work harder, score more and concede less … it’s simple.

“I am not worried, we have spoken with the manager about the situation, because we are playing exactly like we were last year.

“We had these big games in the beginning and we knew they were coming, now these games are over we are going to go into these games and try to get that first win.”

Arsenal enjoyed a good run under Arsene Wenger against Newcastle, who had only won two of their previous 23 meetings against them. Unai Emery, who took over in the summer, ensured he has got off to the perfect start.

Initially there was a hint that Arsenal could find it difficult, and hope among the home crowd that there would be a repeat of April’s 2-1 Newcastle victory. Instead that never materialised, and the visitors soon got to grips with the way the hosts looked to press high when the defence was in possession.

Benitez had clearly singled out Hector Bellerin’s right flank as a potential weakness because time and again there was a quick ball played in behind the Frenchman. That was almost the area which Newcastle could have taken the lead from in the 23rd minute.

Jacob Murphy, one of four changes to the side, should have done better. Firstly he seemed to dawdle in possession to allow Sokratis to come across and prevent him from getting a shot away after Shkodran Mustafi had slipped.

From the corner Murphy, who faded after that and was replaced by Kenedy, also wasted a header at the back post which Petr Cech comfortably dealt with to keep Arsenal goalless at the break.

Other than those Newcastle didn’t test Cech anywhere near enough and Joselu, operating as a lone striker instead of Salomon Rondon, never looked like causing the sort of damage in and around the penalty area he needed to. And that paved the way for Arsenal to take command after the restart, scoring two goals before the hour.

Ayoze Perez, playing just off Joselu, said: “We have to make sure we get that better. The first 15 minutes of the second half was not good at all. There was a lack of concentration and a lack of coordination as well.

“I think we were a little bit deep and we let them play. Against a top side that makes a difference. They were good, so you can’t let them play as comfortable as we did.”

Benitez had wanted his team to start the second half like they had the first. He didn’t get his wish and Arsenal were in command from the whistle.

It took a moment quality to deliver a breakthrough. Granit Xhaka curled a stunning free-kick from 25 yards high inside Martin Dubravka’s top left corner after Federico Fernandez had brought down Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Ten minutes later Fernandez, who was impressive overall, made a fine block to deny Alexandre Lacazette but the ball fell invitingly for Mesut Ozil to cap his 200th appearance for the Gunners with a low finish from just inside the area.

That put Arsenal on course for a rare away win, having only won twice on their travels last season, and they dominated possession until the latter stages.

Joselu had a header tipped over by Cech before Clark directed a downward header at the back post beyond the former Chelsea goalkeeper from Fernandez’s excellent cross.

Diame said: “Crystal Palace is already a massively important game.

“We have to start to win games and that is going to be a good game for us to be able to start that run off.”