The flight path to Heathrow takes you over the impressive Arsenal Stadium in North London.

It also takes you over Brentford's slightly less impressive Griffin Park Stadium.

If Newcastle are ever to get back to winning ways in the capital, their best bet will probably be to draw the West London club in the FA Cup.

It's now 21 games since they tasted London success, their last triumph coming at Crystal Palace in 1997.

It's a good job Bobby Robson's hair is already grey.

It was unlikely, to say the least, that they were going to break their run against Arsenal, and Robson would have been elated if they had come away with a point.

But by 3.16 that hope had gone, and by 4.50 the United manager was looking for a taxi.

To say they were outclassed at Arsenal would be as obvious as saying Ray Parlour doesn't score many hat- tricks.

Ruud Gullit apparently called in the assistance of a priest when he believed St James' Park was cursed.

A 747 fully loaded with holy water would have to spray every stretch of grass in the capital to have any chance of curing Newcastle's problems there.

"We got smashed - it was as simple as that," said Robson. "I can't criticise my players. I know how they feel, but it's not half as bad as I do. The difference is that we had two young players (Hughes and Caldwell) at the back who are learning the game.

"They had Henry and Kanu, who are two gifted, intelligent and experienced international players."

Newcastle competed for 13 minutes. A long ball by Adams was latched on to by the superb Henry, who skipped past Hughes - as he did on many occasions - before curling the ball past Given.

Two minutes later Griffin lost possession on the left wing to Ljungberg. A neat interchange between the Swede, Kanu and Parlour ended with the Charlie Dimmock look-a-like firing home from the edge of the box. Game over.

Two misdirected shots were the best Newcastle could muster in the opening half.

They held out for a good seven minutes in the second half before Kanu finished off an over-the-top ball from Ljungberg with a low shot into the corner.

Arsenal appeared to take their foot off the pedal and limited themselves to a few near misses for the next half hour.

Indeed the Magpies had the temerity to come closest to scoring the next goal.

Alex Manninger, reported to be "a bit dodgy" at the moment, spent the first 78 minutes under the impression that his gloves were for keeping his hands warm.

It was then that Newcastle had their one and only serious chance to test that theory.

A neat link-up between Lomana Lualua and Dyer left the England international in on goal, only to be denied by the alert Austrian. The only dodgy things on show were wearing stripes.

There was time still for Parlour to score with a six-yard header then finished off an excellently executed ball from Robert Pires.

In truth it could have been eight and it wouldn't have flattered Arsenal.

By the end the whistle was as much a relief for the fans as the players.

Robson has been told by the board there is no money to spend, and if the surgeon says Shearer needs to go under the knife he'll be out for at least three months.

"Alan's no better than he was last Friday," he said. "He sees the surgeon about his knee on Tuesday to see if the inflammation has gone down enough to put an injection in. If it flares up again he'll have to have a long rest or an operation."

Talk is of a Ronaldo or a Mancini coming in on loan, but both would appear wide of the mark. A more likely candidate is Egil Ostenstad, currently out of favour at Blackburn Rovers.

Maybe Robson should check his record against London clubs before making his move.