*%^@*** appalling.
Why would you not keep Taveres at left back and show the boy some faith and support.
His confidence must be destroyed now.
From top 4 to best we can hope for is 5th and europa league.
That’s the least we should be achieving and a win today gives us a nice cushion between us utd west ham and wolves.
Arteta once again trying to be too clever for his own *%^@*** good.
*%^@*** *%^@..
Can only pray for a villa win but spurs will smell blood now.
Its over for 4th.
No point stressing anymore

That's just it. They're a midtable side in terrible form who before today couldn't score a goal to save their lives. Crystal Palace away is one thing, they're a better side in good form and they've gotten some excellent results at home recently. But nobody can sit there with a straight face and say the team we put out can't be expected to beat Brighton at home in such an important game. We folded under pressure, and the team selection was wrong from the start, it's as simple as that.

Pile on the misery. Son scores for Spurs.

I think you can often see what’s going to happen in the first ten minutes or so. A slow no energy start and we’re likely to struggle. A high tempo start and things look better.

I wish Arteta would tell the players they all have to run their arses off at the beginning of the game. Because I don’t believe he can be. I find it impossible to accept he does and the players all decide to ignore him.

It seems, like Arsenal teams in the latter Wenger days, we are the very definition of mental midgets.

At home against modest opposition on a billiard table of a pitch on an afternoon bathed in sunshine and we still couldn't turn up. I mean what more could you ask for in order to produce a performance?.

Are Arsenal players simply too cosseted at the Colney creche, is there no accountability? Why are our players unable to produce even a reasonably acceptable level on a day like today.

2-0 Spurs.

Make that 2 nil now.

*%^@*** hurts to see Spurs taking control of 4th having just scored their 2nd goal.
Jammy *%^@.
Brighton never won a game in April in Premier league..
You know what’s coming next…
1 win in last 7
You know what’s coming…..
We are the team that keeps giving.
Thing is we are not a champions league team and would get no where, maybe through the group stage that’s it.
But qualifying was vital for our development, finances and the better type of player we could attract.
That has now all gone up.in smoke.
Will do well to hold onto 5th

That's done it. Spurs 3-0...Son

Son 4-0 hattrick.
Conte has cleaned things up.

I've said many times, the advantage that Tottenham have is that they can play shite and still win. Battered by Villa first half but now 4-0 up.

Kane and Son are on another level to anything we have, their combination play is electric, and Kulusevski looks a player as well.

It is one thing to be knocked down by rival fans when we are down, but when our own forum mate decides to knock fellow forum members down just to sound smart is another thing.

Must he always need to be the one who is right all the time? To me, that's a sign of insecurity.

The sad thing is is that there is still a long way to go and lots of points to be won and lost, we just aren't equipped to stay in the race either mentally or physically.

Todays game is a real sickener because it was a chance to get back on track with a spirited home performance against a team in wretched form. Instead we looked inexplicably lethargic for much of the game and the team had no cohesion whatsoever.
I was never confident of a top four finish but I didnt expect the wheels to fall off in these two games. Lets hope Arteta can get the team playing again because right now even top 6 looks like a challenge.

Before the Palace game we were favourites, if not firm, to get fourth place. Losing last Monday was bad enough. Today was arguably worse as it was at home against a hopelessly out of form team that barely ever scored.

Tottenham winning at Villa was a big result for them. If they end up getting fourth place they deserve it. We can moan all we like about them being a two man team. Overall I think we have better players, even if we don’t have anyone as good as Kane or Son. If they do it, credit to them.

You neglected the fact Spurs have a better manager.

I think our shrunken squad has caught up with us. We can’t adequately cover the absence of Partey, Tomyasu and Tierney. In addition Gabriel, Ødegaard and Smith Rowe have suffered slight dips in form and Lacazette has no form at all. Plus teams are doubling up on Saka and Martinelli. Our bare bones squad has restricted our ability to adjust for the above. However, Arteta must accept his responsibility in picking a jittery looking team who played in 2nd gear for 90 mins and didn’t seem to have any answers to the problems BHA posed us.

To be fair I felt Ødegaard was excellent as soon as Xhaka moved into midfield. A coincidence? I doubt it. The benefit of hindsight is great, but I agree with those who said Tavares should have started the game at left back to enable Xhaka to look after Lokonga in midfield.

There is a player in Tavares. His start to the season showed that.

Wonder who you’re talking about?

I wish Conte and Levy would hurry up and have a massive falling out. The sooner Conte walks the better.

0.88 xG today. Just elite finishing. And 12 goals from last 15 shots on target.

I'm not sure Tavares has it at all. He is a strong athlete, but I think his reading of the game and passing consistency is a real problem.

I would have preferred White at right back with Cédric moving to left back, Holding alongside Gabriel and Xhaka in the midfield.

Lokonga has barely been involved for months. It is totally unreasonable to expect him to come in and control that midfield.

The January transfer window is looking very poor now.

The thing is, it is our faltering rather than Spuds' excellence which has changed the situation. Two rubbish performances this week have let Tottenham move past us.

It's 2019 all over again. Top four in their own hands, then sh*t themselves. At least Arteta is getting the collapse in a few games earlier than Emery did. Progress my arsenal.

I agree with Bernard if spurs finish above us they will deserve it but it should be no surprise if they do. They aren’t the 2 man team as people suggest and whilst i wouldn’t swap many of our players for theirs because our guys have far more potential I would say they have more experience and are probably more conditioned for immediate success right now than we are.

Also critically. They have decent options look at their bench today

3Reguilón
6D Sánchez
8Winks
14Rodon
19R Sessegnon
22Gollini
23Bergwijn
27Lucas Moura
42White

If they lose their left back like us a Spanish international with 6 caps comes in,
lose a centre back? no problem a replacement is there with over 40 caps, or a Welsh international
2 genuine options if you lose a wide player.
Midfield ? A player who has over 100 games for their club.

It’s a proper squad. I doubt if players like Tavares, Lokonga, elneny or Nketiah would even get in their match day squad yet they are permanent fixtures in ours. Our manager is just ill equipped and not armed to do what we need. He needs a hand.

That is an awful bench for a CL team. Aside from Regulion who is their best left back, and Moura who is quality, there's not much there at all. Winks and Bergwijn are absolute trash, and there's not much between Sanchez and Holding. Sessegnon showed promise once but has been terrible this season. The rest are just there to fill a seat, like Swanson, Azeez and Hutchinson for us.

This notion of yours that our squad is *%^@ but the manager is blameless is one of the weirdest agendas you've come up with so far.

Arteta said he wants a squad of 25 players, 22 outfield and 3 GK. we currently have 18 outfield player and 3 of those leave for free in the summer. If Saliba comes back that is still 6 signings. Do that at the same level as we did in the summer and we can start to talk about a proper squad. We have a good 11, 1-2 good back ups and a bit of raw potential but nowhere near the depth we should have.

As for Tottenham being a two man team; in their last ten PL games Spurs have scored 28 goals. One of Kane or Son have been involved in 19 of them either by scoring or assisting. Two own goals by the opposition. And from the remaining seven, three are goals scored in games that are already done and dusted. It's pretty clear who's winning games for them, and it's not 'the squad'.

Thought Lokonga had a pretty good second half today, once Xhaka moved into midfield and he didn't have to do it all on their own. Ødegaard also improved once there was a proper midfield behind him and he could occupy the spaces where he's dangerous.

The thing is, our football is very dependent on control. We're not a great counter-attacking team, and we don't score with ease like our rivals. Tottenham doesn't dominate the midfield against anyone, but they don't have to. They're happy to let other teams dictate the play and then kill them on the break. If we lose control we struggle.

Usually the way it goes. But if they get fourth it is likely at a cost of 30-40 million to us because CL money is a lot better even for an ordinary performance.

So Saliba will be in France and look at Arteta’s conduct and dealings with Tavarez, look at what happened to him last time he was at Arsenal and tell the club to stick it up there a…. What would you do? The time to start integrating him into the team was last season but like many who do not kowtow to Arteta he is not in with a chance. As for the other signings necessary I don’t trust Arteta’s judgement. He is building a squad that can only play one way and when other teams shut down the system we fall apart. The forward he needs does not exist anywhere. Must link up play and must score a hat full. During this game he looked as if he didn’t have a clue what to do. Southampton next: it is a must win just to ensure 5-6 place. How we have fallen. Lucky Man U are even worse than us. Let’s hope they don’t get their *%^@ together.

That was my bad sportsmanship side after that disappointing loss, talking

Agree, Tavares might have had a good match too. Putting Xhaka there was a terrible decision.

"Not good enough AGAIN! We deserve a slap!" Mikel Arteta

Anyone have Will Smiths number ?

Where did I mention blameless you just made that up. The post was just comparing their situation to where we are.

Also where did I say anything about champions league the post says comparing it to us. You obviously can’t read. You say Bergwijn is trash but he won them 3 points v Leicester, Moura has provided 5 assists and 2 goals from mostly the bench this year in the league , winks trash ? Compare him to our options. You wouldn’t accept a swap deal for elneny. It’s night and day and we haven’t got any back up that can affect games in the league the way we need to.

100 percent correct. Our team looks jaded by all the football they have to play and Lacazette looks exhausted right now. Players like Partey have to play when they are carrying knocks

If you look at our bench yesterday there’s only 2 players on it that have demonstrated they can play to any reasonable level in the premier league. The rest no way, Azeez wasn’t ready to get enough minutes for Portsmouth in league 1 this year.

16Holding
19Pépé
20Tavares
25Elneny
30Nketiah
38Azeez
69Swanson
82Hutchinson

So while the manager isn’t blameless in this digging him out for not playing any of that lot is crazy. There’s no reinforcements it’s poverty for a club like Arsenal.

Also the suggestion he was at fault for not picking Tavares is debatable at best considering how bad the player has been in his last 2 games. A total disaster. I think the Tuesday club described his performance at palace as a 100m sprinter who has just decided to play football for the first time.

When was the last time it felt like we had a squad who could cope with the loss of a key player or two through injury?

As others have said I thought it was obvious the team that we should have played. Arteta has to take a lot of fault for the result.
He’s missing his main man in centre mid so he moved the other experienced CM to left back, then he played Emile Smith Rowe and Ødegaard as the 2 8’s which in my view has never results in a good performance. When Xhaka has been pushed forward in that left sided 8 recently it has worked as the balance is better. Xhaka and Emile Smith Rowe are very different players.
For me we had to start Tavares, play Xhaka and Lokonga as a pair at the base of midfield, let Tavares attack, Cédric tucks in on the right and Xhaka covers Tavares. Then up top I think it was time to either play Nketiah or Martinelli as a Striker. Emile Smith Rowe as a wide left player coming inside with Tavares on the overlap works nicely. It would have had all players in their natural positions and given protection and support to the two young and raw players coming in to the side.

Obviously the table shows that us and Spurs are very close in ability, we know spurs are in better form. But I was thinking, to demonstrate how much they rely on that individual quality you could get Spurs to pick any two of our players to fill a weakness in their side - let’s say it was Partey and Gabriel as their front 3 are working well and they play a back 5 - and then consider how much better that makes them as a team? Now do the same the other way round and put Kane and Son in our team - we’d be so many points better off.

A striker and a left sided CM and then add depth to most positions and next season can be very different