Arsenal failed to make up ground on the Premier League leaders after suffering a 1-0 loss to Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon.
Fit again Gabriel lined-up in defence alongside the returning William Saliba, whilst the Magpies dropped Sandro Tonali from the cup win over Chelsea to welcome back Bruno Guimaraes.
Gunners trailed though after 12 minutes as Anthony Gordon raced down the channels to play in a first-time cross for a certain Alexander Isak to power in off the head.
Newcastle were on the back-foot before the half-hour mark and a last-ditch goal-line clearance by Nick Pope denied Mikel Merino profiting through a snap volley.
The title-chasing visitors probed a comeback later on in the half with a floated corner by Declan Rice rolling to the back-post but nobody read the situation nor profited.
Gunners continued coming forward in a desperate quest for the equaliser, but lacked the intensity to finding openings and get efforts on the goal of Pope.
Meanwhile, the host remained buoyant all through having the ascendancy and missed the chance to go further clear through the combination of Gordon, Tino Livramento and Sean Longstaff.
Rice attempted to liven up the visitors a little in the second period with a surging run into the opposing third, but he fizzled well wide from the resultant effort.
The uninspired outing forced the hand of manager Mikel Arteta, who with under ten minutes to go introduced Gabriel Jesus ahead of Leandro Trossard and Ben White in place of Jurrien Timber.
Arsenal still failed to find a response despite the late chances from Rice in particular and ended up with a second defeat of the season.