Manuel Almunia’s performance against West Brom makes an absolute mockery of the embarrassingly smug statements which the Arsenal hierarchy had been issuing in the days leading up to the match.

First Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis announced that, “We continue to develop a vibrant and robust business with sufficient revenues to sustain success,” and then Arsene Wenger took time out to draw attention to his admittedly impressive track record when it comes to introducing young players to the first team, “Nobody else in the world [brings through as many young players]. I'll give you one day the list of those at the top level who have made careers with me and you will see. You will be absolutely astonished. We make a profit because we don't spend - it's as simple as that. What is unbelievable is that people reproach me for making a profit but no-one says a word about people who lose money.”

The inference from both men was that Arsenal are somehow superior to all their rivals because they spend less money on players.

Well Saturday’s performance well and truly blew that particular point of view out of the water. Arsenal are clearly inferior to Chelsea and Manchester United. The fact that between them these clubs have won every single Premier League for the last seven years amply demonstrates this point.

What is utterly infuriating for Arsenal supporters is that Arsenal are continuously unable to compete with these two teams precisely because of the club’s reluctance to invest money in new players.

Season after season Arsenal are lauded by the pundits for their ability to play attractive, free flowing football. Yet almost without fail Wenger’s team are undone by defensive or goalkeeping errors. Had Wenger spent money on bolstering his backline with experienced defenders and a world class goalkeeper Arsenal would surely have won more than their fair share of Premier Leagues in the last seven years.

We have known for years that Almunia is not good enough. Wenger himself acknowledged that he needed a new goalkeeper over the summer and yet he inexplicably failed to find one. Can you imagine Chelsea or Manchester United allowing an incompetent keeper to remain in goal for a few seasons while they waited for the right replacement to come along?

Both these clubs are absolutely ruthless when it comes to replacing underperforming team members, as any world class football team must be. When players are no longer good enough for Chelsea or Manchester United they are unceremoniously either sold or released.

Cristiano Ronaldo was an obvious exception to this rule but it is very rare that Alex Ferguson would countenance letting a key player leave for a rival club. Chelsea released Michael Ballack, Deco, Juliano Beletti and Joe Cole over the summer simply because Carlo Ancelotti didn’t want them anymore.

By contrast Arsenal persistently sell key players because they either receive an offer which is too good to turn down or can’t afford their wages. William Gallas formed what by Arsenal standards was a solid looking defensive partnership with Thomas Vermaelen last season but he left because Arsenal wouldn’t pay him enough. Tottenham, who presumably make a lot less than £54 million a year, had no problem meeting his wage demands.

A season earlier Kolo Toure had left because the club couldn’t afford to say no to £14 million of Manchester City’s new found wealth. Meanwhile Arsenal have been signing replacements of the caliber of Mikael Silvestre, a centre back so bad that Ferguson must have sanctioned his transfer from Manchester United to Arsenal with a smirk on his face.

While Laurent Koscielny looks promising he remains unproven at this level. It is a lot to expect a defender who has never played in the Champions League and has only one season’s experience of top flight football in France to fit seamlessly into an elite Premier League side. Koscielny should be one for the future, but because Arsenal won’t pay the going rate to recruit an established international centre back he has been thrust straight into the fray.

Defending doesn’t necessarily start in defence and Arsenal also lost another key player, Matthieu Flamini, because they were unable to offer him a sufficiently lucrative contract. Flamini was an absolutely vital member of the first team and while Alex Song might have proved a more than able replacement, his departure hit the club hard in the 2008/09 season.

It is easy for Arsenal supporters to forgive Wenger for allowing players like Flamini, Toure, Gallas, Alexander Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor to move on because ultimately he tends to find superior replacements. What Arsenal supporters are at a real loss to understand is the continued presence between the posts of Almunia.

The Spaniard might occasionally puts in a man of the match performance but he is ridiculously error prone for a top flight goalkeeper. You can get away with having a mercurial winger in the team, the type of player who can score a hat-trick one week and then be anonymous the next, but these type of characteristics are totally unacceptable in a goalkeeper.

When you talk about world class goalkeepers you use should adjectives like reliable, consistent and dependable. Describing Almunia, phrases like erratic, unreliable and inconsistent spring more readily to mind.

The situation is compounded by the fact that Arsenal’s number two, Lukasz Fabianski, is even worse. His first team appearances have been few and far between but he has made enough errors in them to suggest that he is far from being a world class goalkeeper.

The goalkeeping situation has not been satisfactory for a long time and yet the club has stubbornly refused to address it. The results were there for all to see on Saturday. A win against West Brom would have taken Arsenal to within a point of the Premier League summit, it was a vital fixture.

The team itself might not have played well but Almunia was directly at fault for two of the opposition’s goals in a game which finished 3-2. It does not require a huge leap of imagination to suggest that had the keeper not gifted West Brom these goals Arsenal would have won the game.

The record profits which Arsenal recently announced are due in no small part to the fans. They are the ones who buy season tickets and replica kits. They are the ones who have been purchasing apartments at Highbury Square. Their money keeps rolling into the coffers of a club which hasn’t won any significant silverware for seven years.