When Arsene Wenger guided his side to an FA Cup triumph at Wembley last May, he finally ended the nine-year trophy drought that had threatened to become the lasting legacy of his time in charge.

The wait for another Premier League title goes on, however, and those willing to look at the positives Wenger has brought to the game will point to the Invincibles season as his defining achievement.

Not many people would have guessed that, having gone the entire previous season unbeaten, the 2004-05 campaign would be the last time Arsenal entered as defending champions.

It has proved to be that way, however, and 10 years ago today they found themselves chasing the young upstarts Chelsea in their first season under Jose Mourinho.

The Gunners had slipped to third in the table the previous day courtesy of a victory for Manchester United, but restored their place in second with a win over Newcastle United on this date a decade ago.

Arsenal went into the match at Highbury without a win in their last two outings, including a defeat to Bolton Wanderers the previous week that saw them drop 13 points behind leaders Chelsea.

Wenger made four changes to the side that was beaten by the Trotters, and they immediately looked to pay dividends when the hosts got off to a bright start.

Robert Pires almost created the opener when he nodded the ball down for Mathieu Flamini, but the Frenchman was denied by Shay Given in the Magpies goal.

Flamini turned provider himself to help his side break the deadlock, threading a pass to Dennis Bergkamp, who fired an effort past Given for his first league goal since August.

The hosts went in search of a second and almost found it on a couple of occasions through Thierry Henry, but both times the striker could not find a way past the keeper.

Newcastle had a couple of rare opportunities to restore parity shortly afterwards, but Lee Bowyer twice squandered decent openings for Graeme Souness's visitors.

They were almost made to pay just before half time as Henry came within inches of doubling his side's advantage, seeing a shot tipped on to the post by Given.

It was proving to be a busy afternoon for the Irish goalkeeper, and he was once again called upon to deny Pires and Henry after the break.

The Magpies almost stole a point late on, but once again the chance fell to Bowyer, who couldn't beat Manuel Almunia having been played through by Shola Ameobi.

Despite closing the gap on Chelsea with the victory, Arsenal never looked a real threat to the eventual champions, who ended the campaign 12 points clear at the top.

The defeat, meanwhile, left Newcastle 12th in the standings, and they would drop down to 14th by the end of the campaign.

ARSENAL: Almunia; Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole; Pires, Flamini, Vieira, Reyes (Fabregas 89'); Henry, Bergkamp

NEWCASTLE: Given; Taylor (Hughes 46'), Bramble, Boumsong (O'Brien 67'), Bernard; Dyer, Bowyer, Jenas, Robert (N'Zogbia 56'); Ameobi, Shearer