The difference between a title winning side and one that falls off the pace is getting a result on an off day. No doubt the Gunners stunk the place out at Middlesbrough yesterday, but defensively they did not have enough to grind out as much as a point. There is a myth that Arsenal’s defence is difficult to breach, but those who watch them week in week out realize that it is anything but. The team have simply ridden their luck this season.

There is no doubt that the four first choice injured players were missed badly, but their replacements should have been able to see off a team that had not won in eleven matches. To these eyes, Boro did not even play very well, and in truth, I don’t think they had to. That is how bad Arsenal were.

With a central midfield of Gilberto and Diarra, one would have expected the defence to be better screened, but neither seemed to be up to task, and creatively there was nothing from them either. I would not however, single out any Arsenal player for criticism as the lot of them were appalling.

The team are still top of the tree by one point, but one worries about the remaining away trips in this campaign. Will visits to Goodison Park, Eastlands, the JJB, the Reebok, Old Trafford and the Stadium of Light see a great deal of improvement after this? Only if those missing at the Riverside are back. But it is what defeats like this do to the team’s confidence that causes the greatest worry. Can they forget this trauma in time to salvage the season?

The understanding was completely gone, the passing almost non-existent, the challenges lacking in conviction and number. A poor Boro side were allowed to play. Wenger took the right players off, but neither Bendtner, Denilson nor Walcott could turn things around. The depth of the squad is good enough to win matches like these, so the only excuse can be fatigue. And what concerns is that Arsenal have no midweek break until after the FA Cup 3rd Round match in January, so nothing’s going to improve on that front. Arsenal have three home matches before Christmas and the Carling Cup visit to Blackburn. I think it’s safe to say already that Wenger’s written off the visit to Ewood Park and will field a team that fulfills the competition’s obligations but probably feature none of those he intends to start against Chelsea and Spurs. What matters now is that the ship is steadied in the league after gaining a point in the last two matches. That means winning the two home games and in the process trying to get the football going again for the visits to Portsmouth and Everton, spirited sides who will ask far more questions than Middlesbrough.

John Carew has accounted for Arsenal more than once as a Valencia player, and visits to Villa Park have cost the team a title before (the parachutist in December 1998 converted a 2-0 lead to a 3-2 defeat with the loss of momentum from a delayed restart). One wonders whether or not the injury suffered by Alex Hleb at Villa will ultimately cost the team. It’s my belief Arsenal would have performed much much better against Newcastle and Boro with the number 13 in the team. Carew’s crude challenge might not have cost the Gunners at Villa Park, but its legacy certainly has. And players like Fabregas and Hleb are sadly irreplaceable. If Arsenal are not to concede further points before the calendar year’s out, neither can come back too soon.

Let’s hope Boro was an aberration rather than the shape of things to come. But it was a sad reminder of some bad, bad away days in the previous two seasons. Arsenal can afford no more of those and must regroup fast. The spirit that has got the team to top spot is about to face its most severe examination so far.