On the eve of the January transfer window, this defeat to West Ham will only fuel the calls for Arsenal to sign a striker.
The Gunners had 74 per cent possession and 30 shots on goal, but nothing to show for it as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat and blew the chance to go top of the Premier League.
The season is at the halfway point and Liverpool lead the way by two points.
This defeat to West Ham should serve as a wake-up call for Arsenal, who were poor as they slumped to a first home defeat of the season.
David Moyes’ side defended brilliantly, and could even have won by more had Said Benrahma not missed a late penalty, but Arsenal were equally wasteful.
That will have been incredibly frustrating for Mikel Arteta, as this looked like the perfect night for Arsenal’s attack to shine against a West Ham defence that was without first-choice centre-backs Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd through injury.
Filling in was veteran Angelo Ogbonna - who was starting his first League game since August - and Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Arsenal fans will remember Mavropanos from his brief spell at the club and, in a moment that summed up the night for the Gunners, he returned to haunt them by scoring West Ham’s second.
It was poor defending as Mavropanos lost Oleksandr Zinchenko far too easily from a corner.
The defending for West Ham’s opener was not much better, with Gabriel and Zinchenko getting in a muddle to allow Jarrod Bowen to tee up Tomas Soucek to score.
It was debatable whether the ball went out of play before Bowen hooked it back in, but this was a night where Arteta would be wrong to blame VAR.
His side were wasteful in attack and the control they have played with this season was replaced by a frantic nature. Arsenal got into good positions on multiple occasions, but all too often the final ball was lacking.
There is a long way to go in the title race, and plenty of time for Arteta to address the issues - starting at Fulham on Sunday.
The question many will ask though, is whether the problem can be solved internally?
It has routinely been suggested that Arsenal need a proven goalscorer to go to the next level.
This defeat did little to dampen that argument ahead of the transfer window opening next week.
