The best thing about Arsenal’s draw at Old Trafford? For once, the away support would have been able to exit the stadium – on the assumption they didn’t hang around for the home side’s celebrations – without severe risk of getting their heads kicked in, a habitual fact of life when leaving the away section after a Manchester United match.

As for the rest, I’ll keep this relatively brief. There is not much to say. Arsenal performed creditably, but the inability to fashion many clear cut chances against a side encamped in their own third of the field is a familiar one. Normally, it’s seen at home matches and the same problems occur. Frustration and all too often these days, dropped points. Remember the sequence of four 0-0 draws earlier this year? Three of those matches were at Ashburton Grove.

Still, credit to the players. Yet if United had needed three points instead of one, then it would probably have been a very different game. Three minutes’ injury time were played. That included half a minute to remove Wayne Rooney. Why that wasn’t added I’ll never know. Isn’t Mike Dean a Liverpudlian? Probably an Evertonian.

We learned nothing new about the players, although it appears that Wenger is persisting with his 4-2-3-1 formation. At one point last weekend against Chelsea , the team seemed to be lining up as more of a 4-1-2-3, akin to the Barcelona system, with Nasri and Cesc in the Xavi and Iniesta roles. I guess you could say chances were created, but there’s no point in raking over the coals of what happened there.

More interesting is to analyse the margins of failure this season and where the team dropped cheap points to put them out of contention. The 4-4 draws with Spurs and Liverpool immediately account for four points out of the window. At home, defeats to Hull and Villa saw a further six disappear. Draws against West Ham, Sunderland and Fulham increase the total to 16 points. Add those up and Arsenal are back in contention. I’m not saying that the team got close by any means, just pointing out the kind of games where chances of a title challenge are totally relinquished if the team does not perform to its full capability. And that is what has to change next season.

What Old Trafford demonstrated is that the team need a different type of striker, someone who is physical enough to actually run at players and frighten them, who will look to shoot rather than ensure possession is kept. Nothing wrong with snap shots, especially if other players are intelligent enough to put themselves in position to nab a rebound.

Additionally, experience is needed in the spine of the team. Nothing new in the suggestion of the two positions where the team are obviously short. Let’s just hope that these are addressed in the summer. Assuming Adebayor is on his way, that frees up the money to buy a striker and there is surely enough in the kitty to buy two more quality players behind him. Such purchases will improve the players around them, assuming Wenger buys communicators and leaders. Arsenal are a big enough club to genuinely attract quality players – Arshavin has shown that.

And if anyone else is sold, then that’s more money to the transfer kitty to buy quality back up as opposed to the Mikael Silvestres of this world. What significance that in the two positions he was bought as cover for, today the manager fielded an 18 year old and a central midfielder? Kind of makes you wonder about the wisdom of adding him to the wage bill.

Arsenal do not so much need wholesale changes to the personnel, but to the approach of the team, the mindset, the attitude. The players need to get hunger from somewhere. They need to learn how to win. How that is achieved is a tough job, but Arsene Wenger’s paid handsomely to do it. Here’s hoping he earns his corn from now until next season begins in earnest.