Having seen their season jump-started back into action at White Hart Lane, Arsenal’s bandwagon ran out of fuel once again at Highbury as West Brom substitute Robert Earnshaw struck a late equaliser.

The malaise which had started to seep into the side in the wake of their defeat at Old Trafford has proved harder to shake off than Arsene Wenger ever imagined.

For having drawn against Southampton and Crystal Palace, the further two points dropped at home to West Brom are extremely costly to their title ambitions.

Needing a helping hand to keep their campaign on course, Arsene Wenger’s misfiring side benefited from two of them – and both came courtesy of West Brom keeper Russell Hoult.

Robert Pires may have been credited with Arsenal’s 54th-minute opener at Highbury in the week that he was left out of the French squad due to a dip in form and a row with coach Raimond Domenech.

However, it was only Hoult’s hapless mistake in failing to hold onto the shot and allowing the ball to slip through his grasp which effectively handed Arsenal the lead.

Then again, Arsenal’s inability to hold onto leads is now becoming something of an affliction, with their defence looking worrying suspect in the continued absence of Sol Campbell.

When Jonathan Greening produced a sublime piece of control on the right flank, he earned himself the space in which to deliver an inviting cross with 11 minutes left.

While Pascal Cygan and Kolo Toure both had the opportunity to intervene, Earnshaw made Arsenal pay with a close-range finish.

West Brom’s third away point of the season was therefore due reward for their refusal to give up, but it was another costly afternoon for Arsenal as they attempt to keep pace with Chelsea.

Their 49-game unbeaten league run may have come to an end at Old Trafford last month, but the club were still marking the achievement before kick-off at Highbury.

Those days seem long ago, however.

West Brom worked tirelessly from the first moment to harry Arsenal at every opportunity, with Zoltan Gera doing his best to get forward in support of Kanu.

Indeed, rather than sitting back, West Brom tried to take the game to the Gunners.

Jens Lehmann miscued a clearance but Gera failed to punish him, while the Hungarian international struck the side-netting after a cross from Neil Clement flew invitingly across the Arsenal area.

Arsenal started to rouse themselves in the final stages of the first half but Clement produced a last-gasp interception to deny Patrick Vieira and Hoult saved Pascal Cygan’s deflected header.

Hoult then produced a fine save as he dived to parry a curling free-kick from Henry, who also clipped a shot past the far post just before the break.

Henry attempted to inject some pace down the left flank immediately after the restart, but even though his cross set up Pires, the Frenchman’s shot was blocked by team-mate Ashley Cole.

The loose ball fell to Bergkamp, but the Dutchman’s effort was miscued wide and Arsenal’s problems in front of goal looked set to continue.

That, however, was reckoning without the hapless intervention of West Brom keeper Hoult as Arsenal seized the lead.

After Lehmann had raced out to clear a through-ball from Kanu, Pires sprang forward on the counter-attack.

Although the Frenchman’s shot was goalbound, Hoult’s leap was so unnecessarily acrobatic and his attempt to grasp the ball so weak, that the ball slipped through his grasp and into the net.

West Brom were spared further immediate punishment by Henry’s air-shot as he took aim from just eight yards out on the turn.

And then, even though Bergkamp delivered an inch-perfect cross onto Cygan’s head four yards out, the French defender headed wastefully over the bar.

Arsenal were made to pay for their profligacy when West Brom came to life following the replacement of Kanu and Cosmin Contra by Geoff Horsfield and Earnshaw.

Greening’s exquisite control and cross set up Wales international Earnshaw to equalise and there was no dramatic recovery from Arsenal.

Full credit to West Brom but these are worrying times, indeed, at Highbury.