Arsenal remain three points clear at the top of the Premier League table, but the sense after the defeat at Manchester City was that the lead they had built up over the first four months of the season may not be enough.
They were far from outclassed in a stunning game of football, but ultimately they were undone by the fact their defence made more errors than City’s and that Olivier Giroud was not quite as sharp as he might have been; both of which can in part be explained by squad size.
Often the difference between mounting a decent challenge and winning titles is in the details.
Coaches trend to focus on the flow of the game, on the tactical shape, because that is what they can control best, but there is that other aspect: the taking of chances, the making of blocks, the sharpness and decisiveness that can ensure a team makes the most of their chances and minimises the extent to which the opposition utilises their opportunities.
And that is conditioned in part by natural ability, in part by confidence and in part by fatigue. If it were just this match, there probably would not be too much for Arsenal to worry about, but this was the third game in a row for Arsenal in which sloppiness has crept in.
Having gone ahead against Everton with 10 minutes remaining last Sunday, Arsenal then conceded an equaliser and what could have been a seven-point lead became one of five points.
Then on Wednesday, having seemingly done the hard part of the job against Napoli, they conceded twice in the final 20 minutes to lose top spot in their Uefa Champions League group, something that could cost them in Monday’s last-16 draw.
It would be wrong to be too critical – after all, they are the second side to go to the Etihad Stadium with the best defensive record in the league and concede six – but, while acknowledging City’s awesome firepower, Arsenal were in part the architects of their own downfall.
Brian Clough always said that games were decided not by the great sweeps television pundits often picked out but by a million tiny details and it is easy to imagine how furious he would have been at Laurent Koscielny for allowing Sergio Aguero to steal away from him before volleying in the first goal of the game.
Maybe that was just an aberration from a player who has excelled this season, or maybe it was tiredness causing a momentary loss of concentration.
Picking up defenders; runs can be difficult, but players cannot run untended into the box as Pablo Zabaleta did in setting up the second, the result of a failure of communication between Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere. Then it was Mesut Ozil, back in a right-back position, giving the ball away cheaply for Fernandinho to score.
After Koscielny had been forced off with “a deep laceration” to his knee, the slenderness of Arsenal’s squad was exposed. Thomas Vermaelen is a player down on confidence who has barely played this season and he was partly culpable for the fourth, after the Ozil-Theo Walcott combination had pulled Arsenal back into the game.
When City lost Aguero to injury, they were able to replace him with Jesus Navas, whose cross found David Silva, weirdly unmarked six yards out between Vermaelen and Per Mertesacker.
And then there is the issue of Giroud. He looked exhausted in Naples, galloping with evidently heavy legs towards the end of that game and looking shattered in the post-match interviews and it was hard not to believe that weariness played its part in two bad misses from him.
Significantly, as Arsenal chased the game late on, Arsene Wenger felt the need to take him off for Nicklas Bendtner rather than pairing the two.
The good news for Arsenal is that after three games in seven days – a schedule that Wenger understandably complained about – they now have a break until facing Chelsea a week on Monday as the first of four league games in nine days over the festive programme.
If fatigue is a factor, that is a game they cannot afford to lose.
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