Arsène Wenger’s toughest task in his long tenure at Arsenal may well be putting a positive spin on a decline that will surely bring his time at the club to an end in a real whimper. Arsenal’s defeat at Brighton on Sunday was their fourth in their last five league games and their fourth in succession on the road. Wenger managed to avoid losing four straight away games in his first 20 years at the club but has now succumbed to that fate in two consecutive seasons.

Arsenal have only picked up seven points from their eight league games so far in 2018. They join Everton as one of two sides who have not won a single point on the road in 2018. Arsenal are already 33 points off the searing pace set by Manchester City at the top and it would be a surprise if that gap didn’t extend to 40 or more by the end of the season. With 13 points separating themselves and fourth-place Tottenham, their hopes of returning to the Champions League places ended some time ago.

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Arsenal’s decline has been apparent for a long time but the dip from last season is marked. Their total of 45 points after 29 games is nine shy of their tally this time last season. That campaign that was labelled a disaster, so this must be considered another year in which the famed “top six” has become a top five. Arsenal find themselves in no-man’s land in the Premier League: cut adrift of the teams above them but relatively untroubled by the sides below.

Arsenal are not scoring as many goals as they did last season (down from 2.03 to 1.79 per game) but they have still outscored Chelsea this season and have only scored three fewer goals than Tottenham so far. Their main problem is their defensive ineptitude; their goals against column has taken a battering this season.

Arsenal have conceded 41 goals so far – one more than 16th-place Newcastle and only two fewer than last-place West Brom (who have won one league game since August). In this, Wenger’s 22nd season in charge, his side has conceded as many or more goals than in 16 of the 21 that preceded it – and there are still nine games remaining. This season is on course to be their worst defensively under Wenger; they conceded 49 goals in the 2011-12 season but, if they continue at their current rate, they will concede 54 goals this season – one more than Middlesbrough conceded last season on their way to being relegated.

While the defence has been a shambles at times, their confidence in Petr Cech has clearly waned. With half of his last 10 match ratings below a meagre score of six, Cech is perhaps the onfield embodiment of his manager. One of the Premier League greats at his peak, the 35-year-old is a shadow of his former self and needs to be replaced.

That said, the players in front of him are offering less protection than ever, with both tackles (16.5) and interceptions (11.6) per game lower than at any point in the last decade. Interceptions are almost half what they were in the 2009-10 season (22.1). Such a dramatic decline means questions have to be asked about the players’ work ethic and their desire to perform for their manager.

In terms of possession, Arsenal see as much of the ball as ever. In fact, they are completing more passes per game (529.9) this season than over the last decade. However, the percentage of those passes that create chances for team-mates has fallen in each of the last four years. The IT Crowd sketch of Arsenal “always trying to walk it in” is truer now than it ever has been. Their cutting edge has diminished and with it has the fear factor they used to pose to opponents. We’ve now reached a stage when Brighton can be incredibly confident of unsettling the Gunners. The defeat at the weekend came as no real surprise.

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This current Arsenal side can count themselves fortunate that other teams have underperformed this season. Had Everton or Southampton, for example, performed to the levels they have reached in recent seasons, Arsenal’s position in the top six would surely be under threat. At this stage of last season, Everton had five more points than Wenger’s hapless team has now. Arsenal’s statistical rating is unsurprisingly at its lowest since we began calculating them, with a score 6.88 a significant drop off, again having fallen year-on-year over the last four seasons.

This Arsenal side is crying out for a change from top to bottom. Wenger’s departure would signal the dawn of a new era that is imperative if the club are not to be left further behind.

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