Maybe it's better like this.

Better that we dampened the fires of speculation without extinguishing them completely. Smarter in the long run to have proved that we deserved to be on the same pitch as the current champions and may have beaten them, had circumstances not been different.

The alternative may have been the ending of our cloak of media invisibility (still intact on Monday when Butch Wilkins told Sky it was a three horse race involving messrs Ferguson, Wenger...and Ranieri.) 

And on a local level, something akin to cup fever may have broken out in the taverns and text messaging forums had the Gunners been dispatched pointless.

Time will tell whether those two uncollected points decide our destiny, but the race certainly isn't won yet. Or lost.

As Chrissie Hynde once said, don't get me wrong - I'd have danced a jig of delight down Barrack Road had we repeated the epic success of Highbury December 2001 and made it a magnificent dozen home wins on the bounce. 

But given the fact that only Chelsea of the top four managed maximum points this weekend, the Premiership pot keeps boiling away nicely with our lot near the surface but not threatening to slop over the sides and scald the unwary. Whatever that means.

Some of us still recall the hullabaloo surrounding our previous title tilts - and we're not talking about "cry on the telly" or the other things yer average non-Geordie learnt from Sky i.e. we threw the title away by signing Tino. 

No, if anything emotionally scarred the .com boys back then it was the unofficial Xmas cards of the Premier trophy falling out of plum duffs and cartoons of Sir Les as a black and white Santa. Those and that musical atrocity "you look like champions" that was inflicted on SJP crowds week after week.

Also in those fateful months of 1996, we were of course treated to the infamous Keegan post-Leeds "love it" sound bite. 

Now that was an anti-Ferguson jibe since interpreted as wor lad losing it in the "mind games" stakes. Fast forward to 2003, and surely the nearest we've come since that Elland Road corridor to a repeat, with the current Newcastle manager taking great exception in his post-match TV interview to the actions of Bergkamp, the referee and by the end of the interview, the quaking Sky microphone brandisher.

All good stuff and proof if it were needed that he's still focused on trying to achieve the best possible position for his team. Passion by the barrowload, but a little too emotional if anything. That's why people are interviewed straight after the game though, otherwise we'd have to exist on an almost total diet of bland platitudes and watered-down spindoctory.

So, similarities with previous seasons but genuine cause for optimism after a game that we grew into and looked progressively stronger in, despite the numerical disparity. Another heartening display of commitment to the cause deservedly brought reward and kept an encouraging 2003 heading upwards.

There's a certain amount of pride to be taken from the fact that we battled back from a goal down against Arsenal and after the Robert dismissal held them in check without major problems to take a point. 

Frustration as well of course, in that we'll never know what would have happened had the re-invigorated Robert stayed on the park and we'd had eleven against eleven. It's also a shame that the dismissal overshadowed an engrossing contest and dominated post-match soundbites.

On the other hand though it's as well to recall the first half when we didn't play badly but rode our luck to go in only one down. Not a criticism of the black and whites, more an acknowledgement of the quality of the opposition.

After praising him justifiably for his comeback game at Spurs, the plaudits again went to Titus Bramble for another intelligent and solid display with a gritty 45 minutes from Gary Speed straight back in the fray. 

However, we'll leave it at that and refrain from the current media trend to leap in showering praise or derision on players after two consecutive good or bad games. 

Bramble hasn't "answered his critics" or established himself necessarily, he's just shown that we signed a player last July with enough about him to play for this club and possibly his country for many years. Potentially. Now let the lad knock off another half century of good performances before pronouncing judgement.

Speaking of passing judgment once again Robert has to be mentioned, but for once in terms at least partly positive and congratulatory. The omens looked good within the first few minutes of this game when he carried the ball down the left flank with the roar of the Milburn and Gallowgate urging him forward, before slipping over a teasing low ball that Shearer just failed to edge past Seaman.

That's what we want from Robert - that's the thing he does that makes him almost unique in this league and worth every Euro.

Add in his thirteenth Toon goal - probably the best he's scored from open play - and it's a great shame that he found himself tussling with the professional Bergkamp - that's professional as in wringing every last ounce of advantage from the rules, much like a certain Newcastle striker (who has also indulged in the instant free kick trick more than once this season.)

While desperately wanting to agree with Sir Bobby, and proudly in the anti-Dennis faction, repeated viewing of the incident does seem to conclude that it's the rule that's at fault or the toon player. Robert admitted on his own website that he was deliberately lurking in front of Bergkamp, and didn't really help his cause by blasting the ball full-pelt at another opposition player seconds after.

From our view as well there was a suggestion that the first booking stemmed from a malevolent challenge immediately before from Lauren, to which Robert reacted badly to. 

There have been games this season when it would have been almost impossible for him to collect either yellow card, such was his isolation from events on the field. However, he certainly seemed to have the bit between his teeth post-goal, even if he was maybe a little over-excited - far be it from us to moan at the lad getting warmed up and involved.

There's another side issue here about the fact Robert invariably plays well or at least has a major role when we are in opposition to a side managed by a Frenchman. Not sure how that one works, but let's hope Tigana is still in charge of Fulham come April...

So, we're sitting in a position that is becoming more pleasing by the week, as the likes of Liverpool suffer below us. A second consecutive spot in the Champions League looks within our own grasp, while a failure to emulate last season's fourth spot would surely be a self-inflicted wound.

The current European campaign is also intriguingly poised - with Leverkusen imploding domestically and possibly distracted from the upcoming toon double header by managerial rumours and that precarious Bundesliga position. 

Add to that an equally faltering Barcelona, who face two tough tests against Inter, and by the time we go to the San Siro things could be very different - the scenario of winner takes all in a Gallowgate showdown with Barcelona still a possible one.

Then there's the arrival of Woodgate - another feather in our cap, although we're sticking to our line about this deal being rather less than the triumph of planning that some would have you believe. Nice to be taking talented English youngsters away from our supposed rivals though - it's a very long time since we raided in the manner reminiscent of Liverpool and Spurs hovering over Tyneside to pluck Waddle, Gazza and Beardo. 

In all the wailing and gnashing of the Leeds fans post-Woodgate came comments from old soaks like Norman Hunter that the fans now had to pay for their "glory days". By that he presumably meant their finishing third, fourth and fifth in the league and winning a few European games. 

No mention of cups though - as the cockney song goes, "still ain't got no silverware."

On a similar axis, Alan Shearer is quoted in the current issue of "4-4-2" saying, "you might as well come last as come second." 

A noble sentiment, the worth of which was certainly proved when we went to a pair of 1990's FA Cup Finals for a nice day out - seemingly content to get our photos taken and come home with losers gongs.

At the end of the day it all counts for nowt until we hold a black and white ribbon bedecked pot in our hands. But at this time we can at least content ourselves that we're going in the right direction steadily, with occasional deviations into blind alleys. 

Nothing in the cabinet yet, but more genuine hope than for a very long time.