Team Focus: Is this Just a Wobble or a Typical Arsenal Capitulation?

It was an exchange that involved just 32 words, but still said so much. As has already become notorious, Arsene Wenger approached referee Lee Mason after Arsenal's 0-0 draw with Southampton, complaining about decisions.

"It's always the same with you," the French manager accused. So, his opposite number stepped in.

"And it's always the same with you," Ronald Koeman responded. "You had 10 chances to score and couldn't take any of them so why have a go at them?"

We know well why. It is often the same with Wenger. He is still one of the most urbane and engaging figures in football, but retains the capacity for being a little ungracious when things don't go his way.

And it might have been all the worse in this case precisely because it seems like it might again be the same with Arsenal. The worry is this four-game winless run might be worse than a drop in form. It might be the beginning of a drop out of the title race, just at the point when they finally seemed ready for a proper tilt at it, and just in the season when so many circumstances seemed to suit them.

The last four games have already seen Arsenal lose top spot, and sink to the more familiar position of fourth place. The worst part of it so far is that it hasn't even been like there's a defined reason for the fall-off, or an immediate explanation. It's just been so unsettlingly limp, as if the side is almost just unconsciously slipping back to their slackest?

So, is it really that bad? Is it really that worrying? Is it really going to be that difficult to recover their previous form?

The answer to all of these is still "probably not" but there is one significant concern that comes from the stats from the last four games. They do bolster this feeling that the team has just slipped a little, that they've just drifted. That can be seen in how there hasn't been any massive drop-off in any one area, but instead a slight drop-off in virtually every area.

Although the fact they played Liverpool and Chelsea undeniably conditioned those matches, it shouldn't be forgotten that these were also very inconsistent Liverpool and Chelsea sides that prospective champions would generally boss in a way Arsenal didn't. Wenger's side have also had other idiosyncratic issues with both Stoke City and Southampton but then this is kind of the point.

The manager's entire approach is based on building his squad's form and football to a point when they are almost playing on instinct because they are in such a good rhythm. That tends to take the opposition out of the equation, but that didn't happen. Instead, Arsenal just lost that rhythm.

The stats are telling. In attack, they're shooting less (15.2 per game to 13), getting fewer on target (5.6 to 5) and converting even fewer (10.1% to 5.7%). It is possible the positions they're being worked into haven't been as good, since they've had less possession, at 52.9% from 56%, and aren't as accurate with their passsing, with a rate of 84% falling to 79%.

It's not like they're showing the same sharpness without the ball, either, since tackles have fallen from 19.2 to 17 and fouls are up from 9 to 10.5. Unsurprisingly, then, Arsenal are also allowing their opposition to take many more shots on their goal: up from 12.1 per game to 15.5.

So, what are the reasons for this, beyond a difficult run of fixtures that have just gradually sapped confidence? After all, the Southampton match almost seemed the perfect visual representation of these figures: not that bad, even quite good, but still something imperceptible missing.

Much was rightly made of Fraser Forster's series of saves but not that many of them were truly spectacular. Ten in a single game is a feat no-one has bettered but some were fairly routine and there was still the overall sense that Arsenal just couldn't force the issue. They just didn't look like they had yet developed that extra level that is so crucial when a title race starts to come to the crunch.

They may well have missed the pace-setting of Santi Cazorla. That may well have taken shape out of their midfield, and altered the platform from which Mesut Ozil has so often been mesmeric. That has naturally meant Olivier Giroud hasn't had the same level of supply, with that in turn increasing pressure on the defence.

It all just adds up to a series of connected small issues rather than one major problem - unless that major problem is the entire mental approach of the team.

This season, it's a little too early to question that. That time may be coming, though. Arsenal need a win, and fast.

They need to recover even some of their verve. Just as a few bad results have sapped their confidence, one good one could go a long way to restoring it.

Will Arsenal bounce back immediately or are they rattled? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below

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