Back in the height of summer when Petr Cech made his move across London, it was games as ragged and rickety as this that John Terry had in mind when he suggested the goalkeeper could be worth 12-15 points a season to Arsenal.

Arsène Wenger’s team were below par, the radar was off, the fatigue had set in, and they came up against a Newcastle team who made more than enough chances to upset the league leaders. Cech dealt with assurance with Newcastle’s best efforts, which gave Arsenal the platform to eke out a 1-0 win. Getting the points required resilience and the capacity to dig deep into their energy reserves. It was appropriate, perhaps, that the match winner was Laurent Koscielny, restored to the starting line-up after a much-needed breather.