On Sunday evening, we were treated with more bottling from an Arsenal team which simply cannot help but repeat its failures.

We thought we would see something different at the Etihad stadium after the capitulation at Goodison Park and as it proved, we really thought wrong.

The convenient excuse will have something to do with the possible offside decisions which could have been given for both goals Manchester City scored. But as someone from the Telegraph meticulously pointed out, both calls were actually not as debatable as you would think.

And sure, Mesut Ozil and company did not pull up their sleeves and sweat when the going got tough but don’t blame all this team’s failures on a mere ‘lack of passion’. It is a complacent mentality which stems from the manager because even though the names on the team sheet have changed since 2007, what has not changed is the way we lose and the man in charge.

If Arsenal had not flattered to deceive in the past decade, you would probably look at the last seven days and say that back-to-back 2-1 defeats after leading at tough away grounds are certainly not the end of the world.

But they have proven in the past ten years that losses of that sort eventually amount to a dramatic collapse in their title pursuit.

Therefore, any realist would not see anything else but another season of Arsenal settling for the ‘also-rans’ tag as it stands.

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