After two big away wins Arsenal returned home to highlight to everyone the underlining reason why this team has repeatedly failed to win trophies. Their ability, their technique, their attacking prowess has never been in question. The problem lies in the mental state of this team. They’re not winners, and suffice to say they have proved this again and again and again. The problem in previous seasons has been despite controlling and taking a lead in games they consistently buckle under the pressure of seeing out games. So far this season we have seen this affliction rear its ugly head against Sunderland, Shakhtar and of course last Saturday. However a far more pernicious problem has occurred this season against Newcastle, West Brom and yes again last Saturday. The players have simply failed to play. As if being in front of the home crowd is not enough incentive, then they should at least acknowledge what it means to play our most hated rivals. Instead they grant them an outrageous victory that they will laud over us and will use to back up their delusions of grandeur. You can hardly ever have imagined Henry allowing the Spuds to make a mockery as they did.

Why then has this happened? Despite having the better side Arsenal consistently come up short and the simple reason is they lack winners in the team. The heart, which Fabregas displayed by banging in a penalty with a broken leg against Barca, is seldom repeated by anyone else in the team. It’s the reason after the 2-2 at Birmingham that we threw away the league. It’s the same reason why on Saturday when Rosicky was on the edge of the Spuds’ box he shifted responsibility off himself, by passing the ball to Song, who was in the exact same position. The reason? No bottle and no heart.

There’s more to winning a league then just playing the best football. It’s about preventing the complacency that hits when you win a couple, it’s about shutting up shop and winding down the clock when there’s ten minutes to go and yes it’s about every single member of the team pulling their own weight. To highlight this on Saturday was Denilson, forever the attempted amalgamation between Cesc and Song without being nearly as good as either. For him the game finished at half time, he didn’t care who we were playing, he checked out and thought the game was over.

Then when the Spuds’ first goal went in the nerves hit the team like a ton of bricks. And we in the crowd could feel it all coming, we had seen it all before, perhaps not in such a painful fashion but we had still seen it. It’s not about having good ol’ fashioned English grit in the team, England despite what the press might like to believe haven’t won anything for almost a lifetime now. Many European players are winners and you don’t even have to be the best in the world. Lehmann for all his flaws was undoubtedly a winner, and that drive and his command of the back four in the unbeaten season could not be more opposite to what the unimposing Bambi instils now.

On Saturday we probably suffered the worst league defeat of our post-Highbury era. The reason? There isn’t the mental strength in this team to take advantage of a two goal lead or the woeful form of our title rivals. I doubt we will see any miracle recovery this Saturday lunchtime either. Recently, Cesc and Theo were on Football Focus and were asked the question, “Who beats his chest in the dressing room and gets the team going?” Their reply, “no one”. I think we have all known for a long time now that our dressing room has no beating chest, as it has no heart.