Arsenal look as though they'll need to wait another year to end their wait for Champions League football after losing at Newcastle United on Monday night.
After a goalless first half, Ben White's own goal put the Magpies in front before Bruno Guimaraes secured the points for Eddie Howe's side. It means the Gunners' only hope of Champions League football is if they beat Everton on the final day of the season and rivals Tottenham Hotspur lose to bottom-of-the-table Norwich City.
A run of four straight wins had put Mikel Arteta's side in pole position for fourth place, only for defeats against Tottenham and Newcastle - coupled with Spurs' narrow victory over Burnley - to give Antonio Conte's men the upper hand. There have been a number of factors behind Arsenal's likely failure to clinch a top-four finish, and Mirror Football has taken a look at five of the key reasons they look set to miss out.
Naive red cards
Arsenal fans will point to certain refereeing decisions going against them over the course of the season, but there have been occasions where they haven't helped themselves. The example which stands out most prominently is Rob Holding's sending-off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but it's not the only one.
Holding's dismissal came for the kind of challenge you can't afford to get wrong when already on a booking. The same goes for Gabriel's dismissal against Manchester City on New Year's Day - a decision which BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand branded "stupid".
"This is where the stupidity enhances itself," Ferdinand said of Gabriel's second booking against City after the Brazilian had gone into the book moments earlier for scuffing up the penalty spot. "[Opponent Gabriel Jesus] is not going in on goal, he's not a threat, he's in the middle of the pitch and straight away after that incident you commit a silly foul like that".
Arsenal were unable to hold on with 10 men against City, and history repeated itself against Spurs. These may well be moments the Gunners look back on at the end of the campaign.
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Lack of trust
Between the start of the season and the end of January, Eddie Nketiah played 51 Premier League minutes for Arsenal. The lack of game time might have kept him fresher for the run-in, but one wonders how much the striker could have contributed earlier in the season.
The former Leeds loanee is out of contract at the end of the season and had stayed on the fringes under Arteta for months before making an impact in the win at Chelsea. Based on the manager's comments after that result, there was a sense that Arteta was ready to accept the error of his ways.
"If there is one player that I have been unfair with I think it's him," Arteta said. "He has given me every right to do something different, and if Eddie doesn't play more, it's my fault and because as a manager I missed something or I haven’t had the courage to play him more. Today he showed me more how wrong I was."
Misjudging squad size requirements
Arsenal may have benefited from their lack of extra games, with the Gunners not involved in European competition for the first time this century. However, while that allowed Arteta to operate with a smaller squad, there was arguably a misjudgement when it came to just how small it could be.
By the end of January, Arsenal were out of both domestic cups and only had league football on the horizon. Still, the amount of squad trimming would come back to bite them as injuries hit some key areas during the run-in.
Sead Kolasinac, Calum Chambers and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all left on permanent deals in the new year, while Pablo Mari and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were among those allowed to exit on loan. As defensive worries mounted, and with key midfielder Thomas Partey sidelined, it's hard not to look at the January business with a pang of regret.
The lack of a prolific scorer
While the loss of Aubameyang meant the loss of someone with goals in his past, there was no sign he would repeat the feat this time around. Even as the Gabonese striker enjoyed a fast start at Barcelona, plenty around north London felt Arsenal were better off without him.
The bigger issue, however, is the lack of goals from other strikers. Bukayo Saka is the Gunners' top scorer this season, with 11 goals, and Emile Smith Rowe is the only other player with more than six - Alexandre Lacazette is still yet to pass Aubameyang's four goals despite his former teammate being long gone.
Contrast this with the teams above them. Manchester City, Livepool and Tottenham Hotspur all have at least one player with 15 or more goals, while Chelsea - known for spreading the goals around the squad more than most - still have a nominally off-form striker in Romelu Lukaku who has double Lacazette's tally.
Some will point to the January window and the failure to land any of the attacking targets, with Dusan Vlahovic joining Juventus and others staying put. A new goalscorer feels like a must going into the new season.
Simply not being ready
Even with the various missteps we've seen, Arsenal might have still stumbled over the line. The fact that they were left needing just two wins to close out the season is a testament to that.
If you go back to the start of the season, though, many Arsenal fans would have considered a top-four finish to be a hope rather than an expectation. This was still a young squad, and one without a huge amount of experience of this kind of situation, so they can still come back stronger.
A final day victory would take Arsenal to 69 points - a tally which would have been enough for third place last season - and only a couple of pieces of late drama have kept them from a higher finish. Take away Demarai Gray's stoppage time winner against the Gunners in December - and Steven Bergwijn's last-gasp double for Spurs at Leicester the following month - and things look very different.
With the benefit of another year, and the lessons from this season, Arsenal should be in much better shape next term. Of course, that doesn't make this season's outcome any less painful.
