The last time Arsenal failed to keep a cleansheet in their opening five matches of a league campaign was 1988 – but they went on to win the league that year.

Let’s be clear before we start. They aren’t going to do that this year.

Just before Newcastle scored their consolation goal on Saturday, I tweeted:

https://twitter.com/DailyCannon/status/1040989810494763008

It had just occurred to me that we were not far from actually keeping a cleansheet but I could feel in the pit of my stomach that it was only a matter of time before that changed. I thought about not sending the tweet, but then I remembered I have absolutely zero influence on what happens when Arsenal play and sent it anyway.

The tweet posted at 4.44pm. By 4.46pm Arsenal had conceded.

It was no surprise to anyone, really.

Arsenal have kept two cleansheets in their last 16 matches, three in their last 18 and six in their last 24. This is not a new problem. Nor, as Unai Emery is finding out, is it one that is easily fixed.

Arsenal now play four games in three competitions in the next 10 days and all of them are games they are expected to win.  But, more than that, they are games they should win well and defend in like they know what they are doing.

Should Arsenal emerge from a run of home games against Vorskla, Everton, Brentford, and Watford without a single cleansheet then it might be time to start asking some hard questions.