Arsenal’s Champions League hopes took another blow after this wounding defeat to Brighton that had Mikel Arteta admitting his side were on a “road to nowhere.”
That is back-to-back defeats in the space of less than a week – three from their last four, which has seen them gift Tottenham the advantage in the race for fourth.
Criminally, they have even given Manchester United a glimmer of hope, despite Ralf Rangnick’s side picking up just one point from a possible six, including defeat to Everton earlier in the day.
That result at Goodison should have been a boost to Arteta’s team before they even kicked off – knowing they could have effectively killed off one of their challengers.
Instead, they produced another insipid display – hot on the heels of defeat to Crystal Palace on Monday – waiting until the closing stages to finally kick into life.
Arteta said: “For me it was a problem of the approach and the courage that we showed to play and we didn’t have that purpose. I know that we didn’t have that intention to attack and step in and provoke the situation.
“What happens now is we criticise ourselves a lot, get slapped again because we deserve it. We were really poor again the first half and have to lift ourselves up because we know that this road is taking us nowhere – especially where we want to be. We have everything to play for int eh last eight games.”
This is now a severe examination of this young Arsenal team that had provided so much cause of optimism just a few short weeks ago.
Against the odds, they looked on course for a place in the top four that no one predicted at the start of the season.
But to blow that now would turn a largely encouraging campaign into a major disappointment.
That is a measure of the job Arteta has done this term – but it is the hope that kills you.
This felt like Arsenal of old. They are bottling it at a key stage of the campaign – and the damage caused by this run could be felt for a long time to come.
How does Arteta lift his players, restore confidence and keep them in the battle for the Champions League places?
Three of their next four games are against teams around them - Chelsea, United and West Ham. The clash with Southampton next week now becomes an absolute must win.
It is up to Arteta to prove he is building something new – something different – and they can arrest a slide that threatens to completely derail their campaign.
On this evidence, it is going to be a painful end to the season.
They were utterly lifeless and clueless in a first half that saw Brighton take the lead through Leandro Trossard after 29 minutes.
It was a superbly taken goal – but the manner in which Arsenal’s defenders were completely caught out by Enock Mwepu’s cutback was amateurish.
Trossard simply checked his run to leave him completely free just inside the box and from there he picked his spot.
Had Gabriel Martinelli’s header on the stroke of half time stood – rather than being ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check – it would have flattered Arsenal.
While the home team improved after the break, they created virtually nothing for the majority of the half and went 2-0 down with similarly flimsy defending.
Once again, they were caught out by a cutback – this time Moises Caicedo pulling the ball to the edge of the box where Mwepu advanced untracked and controlled a beautiful volley into the bottom corner.
Anger filled the air inside the Emirates as the fans vented their fury at the limp display in front of their eyes.
Perhaps more frustrating was the joy Arsenal eventually had when they woke from their slumber.
It was too little, too late – even with six minutes of added time – but in that period of frenzied pressure saw them hit the bar twice, score and force Robert Sanchez into action more often than at any point earlier in the match.
Martin Odegaard’s free kick hit the bar at the death and from the rebound Eddie Nketiah did likewise.
With the ball still in play and Arsenal keeping the pressure on, Odegaard’s deflected effort from 30 yards dipped past Sanchez.
The Emirates believed a comeback was on.
Nketiah forced a flying save – then Gabriel came close.
Brighton were against the ropes – but an equaliser did not come.
Even salvaging a point could have made all the difference in terms of the narrative surrounding Arsenal at the moment.
Instead defeat feels like this story is set for a miserable ending.
