Arsenal went to bottom side Wolves, took a two-goal lead, and blew the title race open in the space of half an hour, conceding twice to throw away two vital points.
The Gunners should have made light work of the Premier League’s basement side when Bukayo Saka scored inside five minutes, but there was little sense of urgency to kill the game. Instead, mistakes crept in, duels were lost, and the tone shifted.
Even when Piero Hincapie doubled the lead on 56 minutes, manager Mikel Arteta prowled the touchline looking uneasy. With good reason. Wolves needed only five minutes to halve the deficit, Hugo Bueno curling home from the edge of the box.
It sent Arsenal into a spiral. Even trusted lieutenants struggled with the basics; some couldn’t string passes together, others looked leggy. An equaliser felt inevitable, and it duly arrived deep into stoppage time in truly calamitous fashion: Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya indulging in a horrible mix-up that allowed teenage debutant Tom Edozie to fire home via Riccardo Calafiori’s thigh and the post. If it weren’t so painful, you’d say it was comically bad.
If Arsenal don’t win the title – and it’s going to be bloody hard after this self-inflicted body blow – those few seconds will be replayed to the tune of rival fans laughing for years, much like the 2-2 draw with Birmingham in 2008.
Two wins in seven league games is not good enough, and Arteta knows it. After the game, he looked emotional, but with a North London derby looming on Sunday, he was wary of blowing everything up on national television.
“It’s very tough to accept it, but the second half we didn’t perform at any level, in any aspect of the game at the standards that are required to win a game in the Premier League, and we paid the price.
“Too many things that went wrong, it was one after the other, basically, and we didn’t get any dominance or control of the game.
“We scored the second goal, and it’s still there. So, it’s better not to judge it. We are all too emotional about it, and it’s not the moment to do it.
“It’s a moment when if you don’t perform, and you are at this level, expectations are where they are you have to take the hit, because as well, we deserve it.”
After last month’s damaging 3-2 defeat to Manchester United, Arteta called on fans to “jump in this boat because it’s going to be fun” — an attempt to galvanise a fanbase already wary of cracks appearing.
He defended that position when asked if the message still stands.
“Exactly the same. It’s very easy now, when you’re emotional, to start to say things that can damage the team, and that’s the ultimate and the worst decision that you can make, because everybody wants to do their best, nobody questions that.
“Today we were not at the level, at the races, and at the standards that are required, and when you do that, and you want to be at this level, you have to take the hit.”
He added: “The enjoyment comes from moments of suffering as well. If you believe that you can come to any ground in the Premier League, and you don’t have to go through tough periods, that’s not the reality.
“The enjoyment comes as well from those moments, when you know the best, OK, get through and find a way to do that. And today, at the end, in the last minute, we pay the price.”
While it’s clear he was unimpressed by what his players produced, he didn’t fault their attitude or application.
“No, not at all. I’ve never seen that \[a lack of effort\] in this team. There are many other aspects that you have to do, very basic things, simple things, much better than we’ve done. If you want to really dominate the game, and bring the margins that there should be between the two teams.”
Arsenal now have four days to lick their wounds before a trip to Sp\*rs, who today announced Igor Tudor as their interim manager. It’s hard to guess what either side will deliver, although Arteta insists it’s the perfect game to reset.
“Now you have to stand up. When they have a moment of difficulty, and we feel really frustrated with ourselves, you have the perfect game – against Spurs away, to go and show how much we want it, and how good we are.
“That’s it, that’s what we have to do, talk on the pitch.”