Mikel Arteta's decision to drop Ben White for Takehiro Tomiyasu cost Arsenal dearly in their defeat by Manchester City.
That's according to former Gunners midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong, who says the right-back's mistake, which directly led to Kevin De Bruyne's opener at the Emirates, made a difficult task that bit harder for Arsenal on Wednesday.
Frimpong's claim comes as Arteta reflected on the defeat and suggested he actually has more belief that his Arsenal side can win the Premier League title this season than he did before Pep Guardiola's side recorded a 3-1 win and leapfrogged the Gunners at the top of the table.
Frimpong told Midnite: "Once Manchester City are top of the table, it's very tough to win that position back from them. Arsenal had enough chances to win the game but Manchester City took their chances really well.
"There's no surprise they're back at the top of the table, any Premier League fan would have said Manchester City were going to win the league from the start due to their quality of players.
"The last three or four games, Arsenal's standards have really dropped.
"It was a surprise to see Ben White dropped, he did look a bit tired but Takehiro Tomiyasu came in and made a mistake, it makes you think about whether White should have started in the first place.
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"Arsenal can hold their heads high because no one gave them a chance at the start of the season, every game is very difficult, maybe they can win four or five games on the bounce now and regain their form."
Arsenal have a game in hand over Man City and will return to the top of the table if they beat Aston Villa on Saturday ahead of the Citizens' clash with Nottingham Forest.
Arteta isn't concerned that City have closed the gap at the top and claims he's actually more confident Arsenal can win the league this season than he was when Guardiola's men were chasing them.
He told BBC Sport: "They still have it [the belief], I can sense it. They feel they can do it.
"I have more belief than I had before the game. With the performance and the level the team put in, we had the feeling we could beat them. Until the second goal, we had them.
"But we gave them three goals and the game at the end. Certain errors at this level, you can't make. At the same time, the team put the level very high.
"The difference was in the boxes, they had three chances and they put them away. We had chances and we didn't put them away."
Arteta added to Amazon Prime: "They are the best team in the world and we matched that level. After it is just about doing certain things better to beat them. I have more belief [to win the league] because I see a team going head-to-head with them.
"You have to go to the next one and in three days we have another game. I have more belief in my players."
