Leeds Utd - 1 Arsenal - 4 Charlie Chaplin once said his eloquence decreased the day silent films gave way to talkies.

As Peter Reid bit his lip outside the gents' toilets at Elland Road on Saturday evening, his gentle shrinking from two subjects painted a picture of the sad corner in which he and Leeds United find themselves.

Freshly battered by a fluent, yellow card-free Arsenal, Reid returned to off-field matters every bit as sticky.

Mark Viduka was fit to play on Saturday but was not even on the bench. Viduka is believed to have turned up late for training once last week and then missed a players' meeting. Meanwhile, in the Sun newspaper, Viduka was griping about low morale. Viduka earns £65,000 a week.

After some pushing Reid said that "timekeeping" was an issue with Viduka. "The Mark situation . . . I have had a little chat with him but I had better chat with him a little more before I make any further comment. A couple of times he has overstepped the disciplinary boundaries at this club. I have got a lot of players and they must all be treated by the same rules."

A problem for Reid, however, one of many, is that when he was manager of Sunderland he had power. At Leeds, until his own future is endorsed, Reid just has the post.

Trevor Birch, the new chief executive, starts today and clarity on the manager is a priority. Leeds' next three games are Portsmouth and Charlton away, Bolton at home. By then they will have played 14 games and they probably need the same number of points if pressure on Reid is to relent. At present they have eight.

"I do know Trevor Birch, our paths crossed on Merseyside and a couple of my pals know him," Reid said. "But, if I start looking over my shoulder with all this speculation, I would not be able to look forward.

"I have not heard anything. They have not told me I have got two or three games, or even five, six, seven or eight.

"I am just manager of this football club and I will keep managing. I have been told to get on with it and that is all I can do."

Having just faced Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United in the league, there is an assumption these next three fixtures will be easy by comparison. The trouble with this theory is that Portsmouth, Charlton and Bolton are all superior to Leeds.

Charlton have conceded 13 goals, Leeds 25 or 2.3 per game. And that statistic should have been worse. Thierry Henry scored two here but he also missed two. In the last 11 minutes alone Jeremie Aliadiere, Edu and Lauren squandered chances.

Leeds were not in it from the eighth minute when Henry simply sprinted away from Gary Kelly and slotted the ball beyond Paul Robinson. Nine minutes later Robert Pires had a similar task following another swift Arsenal breakaway.

Henry added a third before half-time and Gilberto made it four five minutes after it. Then Arsenal relaxed and thought about Dynamo Kiev at Highbury on Wednesday.

Leeds kept going, the teenagers James Milner and Aaron Lennon showing an attitude to make Viduka blush. From Lennon's cross Alan Smith nicked a consolation.

The youthful spirit of Milner and Lennon posed Arsenal questions but they are not the kind Kiev will ask and the relevance of this affair to Wednesday felt distant. Kiev, five points ahead of Arsenal in Group B, will sit and soak and counter - Arsenal's tactics here.

At Highbury Arsenal will have to set the agenda, though Arsene Wenger and Dennis Bergkamp mentioned the importance of relaxing while, in Bergkamp's phrase "taking the handbrake off". That is difficult when all know this is a defining moment in Arsenal's season and their future.

As Wenger said, initially of Leeds but then of Arsenal: "You are never at the top definitely. It's fragile and it can quickly go down. I'm always worried, I think everybody in every club is worried when it goes well."