A second defeat in under a week to Manchester City and a chance wasted to cut the gap on fourth-placed Tottenham after a disappointing 3-0 defeat at the Emirates.
Going into the match I always knew it was going to be tough against a side outplaying most teams that stand in their way this season, but that kind of result at home is unacceptable and simply not good enough.
For the first 15 minutes we played far better than we did in the whole match against the same opponents in the Carabao Cup Final less than a week ago.
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson was quickly off his line to stop Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang getting to Aaron Ramsey's through ball early on.
Ramsey, who was Arsenal's only decent performer on the night, was in the thick of the action again when he squared the ball for Danny Welbeck. The ball hit Vincent Kompany before Ederson pounced on it to cut out the danger.
Arsenal continued to create chances as Henrikh Mkhitaryan latched onto a pass from Mesut Ozil, but the Armenian's effort was comfortably saved by Ederson.
The Gunners' decent start was then very quickly undone as Manchester City opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Leroy Sane was one of City's stand-out performers and he ran at the defence before setting up Bernardo Silva to curl the ball inside the far post.
Arsenal tried to find a way back into the game, but Granit Xhaka's free-kick was saved by Ederson before the Brazilian goalkeeper kept out Ramsey's powerful strike.
Although the result was unacceptable from Arsenal, especially at home, City deserve huge credit for some of their unplayable and sublime attacking in the first half that was worthy of winning any game.
City effectively ended the contest by doubling their advantage after 27 minutes when a great passing move ended with David Silva lifting the ball over Petr Cech at his near post.
The visitors added a third shortly after the half hour mark when a slick passing move ended with a tap in for Sane. It was an excellently worked goal, but conceding three goals at home should not be happening to a club like Arsenal and shows just what a mess we're in at the moment.
There is a reason why City have a 16-point lead over nearest challengers Manchester United and when they are at their best nobody can stop them, but the lack of spark and fightback from us is inexcusable.
I hope when Arsene Wenger eventually goes, fans look back and reflect fondly on the good times, but enough is enough we need change and cannot go on like this.
Replacing the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira was always going to be a huge ask. Yes, the players we have now are not close to that calibre, but they are still more than good enough to perform better than we have been doing lately. The players need to buck their ideas up massively and Wenger needs to think about his next move. Change in the summer would allow for a fresh start and at the moment we head into each game almost dreading what might happen next.
Back to the match, and it could have been 4-0 before half-time had Cech not come to the rescue with a great save to deny Sergio Aguero from closer range.
Arsenal tried to muster a response in the first half but, other than Ramsey's shot deflecting behind for a corner and Ederson saving Xhaka's long-range shot, we didn't offer anywhere near enough in attack.
We were handed a lifeline within seven minutes of the restart after being awarded a penalty when Nicolas Otamendi kicked the back of leg of Mkhitaryan. Up stepped Aubameyang, but there was not enough power on the striker's spot-kick and Ederson kept it out with a diving save.
Arsenal dominated possession for the first 15-20 minutes of the second half, but without really taking advantage of it. Aubameyang sent a volley wide after nice build-up from a corner, but the Gunners really didn't offer enough in the final third.
For all our dominance in the second half, City still looked the more likely to score and nearly did through Aguero, but his powerful low strike was turned away by the outstretched hand of Cech.
City ran out comfortable winners as the mess at Arsenal continued.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Manchester City fan Joseph Barnes believes his side took things up another gear from their recent cup-winning performance against the Gunners.
"The first half is City proving we are better than the team that beat Arsenal at the weekend," said Barnes. "Sublime football with a cutting edge that is a class or two above anything else in the league.
"Going forward is superb, but a lot has to be said for the back line. Otamendi finally looks a player. Kompany back amongst the best in the league and the icing on the cake is the best sweeper keeper these shores have ever seen. Ederson could play centre mid...
"On Arsenal, Aubameyang has no confidence. Lacazette, I know he's injured, but he has no confidence, Welbeck no confidence, Ozil no confidence...Wenger has to go!"
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
This season has been our worst under Wenger and a truly painful one.
Although I don't think we will progress much further in it, the Europa League could at least offer a consolation, so we really must go all guns blazing in that competition and get things tactically spot on.
If we can fluke a spot in the Champions League via the Europa League route it would be a hell of a consolation, but I still wouldn't be happy as this season has been terrible and totally inexcusable.
We travel to Brighton in our next match and, although it is one we should win, the fact I am not 100% confident really says it all.
The performance levels definitely need to go up several notches!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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