Lacking ideas, invention and a spark, Arsenal were comfortably beaten by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup Final - Mikel Arteta's men desperately need to turn things around when they return to action
The worry for Arsenal goes way beyond fatigue.
Looking at Arsenal’s performance in the Carabao Cup final, they looked like a team which is also short on ideas. They are counting the players on the injury list with Ebrerechi Eze now joining the likes of Mikel Merino and Jurrien Timber while Martin Odegaard has been out for the past few weeks.
But a few players look a bit flat. Bukayo Saka is Arsenal’s Mr Reliable, he is a joy to watch and yet this season he has not reached his usual heights on a consistent level.
Viktor Gyokeres has shown flashes lately but has yet to fulfil his billing as the answer to Arsenal’s striker problems. At Wembley, he looked sluggish and unable to hold the ball up. They needed pace and ideas.
They need a spark. They have scored 31 goals from set-pieces this season in all competitions and a cheer went up from the Arsenal end whenever they got a corner.
But it has to go beyond that.
They need more invention and to go back to the team which was creative and fun to watch earlier in the season when they saw off the likes of Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid.
Let’s not forget that they beat Bayer Leverkusen with an impressive display in the game before the Wembley showdown with Manchester City.
But Arsenal were so poor at Wembley that is must present a worry for the rest of the campaign. This nonsense about it being a free hit. No, it was a trophy to be won and now City think they have got the beating of Arsenal in the title race and FA Cup.
It was a huge blow. Another blow for Arsenal recruitment and team selection. Sporting director Andrea Berta brought in No.2 keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga in the summer and he is a good back-up - but he is not in David Raya’s league.
Why, oh why play your No.2 keeper when he’s so obviously inferior to your No.1? City did the same but James Trafford is a lot closer to Gianluigi Donnarumma in terms of levels.
Mikel Merino is a big miss in terms of personality. Timber has been so consistent. They have suffered injuries at bad times. Now it is Eze.
Even Declan Rice and, particularly, Martin Zubimendi were poor at Wembley. They have run out of legs.
Arsenal need some creativity rather than flat, uninventive and uninspiring performances like they had at Wembley. They were so poor.
The other problem is that this will check Arsenal’s confidence and also leave City thinking they can overtake them. Confidence and psychology is huge. Back in February, City came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at Liverpool. That left Arsenal with a hangover - and they were not even playing!
Last week, Arsenal beat Everton with two late goals and City then slipped up at West Ham, dropping two points in a 1-1 draw. That was because City were flat going into the game because Arsenal had won. If Arsenal had drawn then City would have won.
These things matter. It is a challenge for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta to come back and respond. It’s Southampton in the FA Cup, Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League and a crunch game with Bournemouth which if they win pushes Arsenal 12 points clear before City play at Chelsea.
That is huge - but if they slip up then it will only strengthen City’s belief they can do it. But the final has set a very worrying tone.