Just when it was all going so well, just when it looked like an open title contest again, with the most appealing and attractive footballing side even promising to win it... Suddenly Arsenal's frailties have resurfaced, along with the stubbornness of Arsene Wenger, and once more the league threatens to follow its February ritual and turn into a two-horse race.It was a few weeks ago at one of Wenger's typically insightful Friday press briefings that he agreed for the first time that he needed a centre forward in the January transfer window to give his squad and their Premier League challenge a fresh momentum.
The problem was, he said, that he just could not find anyone good enough. It was revealing. Is anyone good enough for Wenger the perfectionist? A marvellous run of results concealed the flaws that emerge whenever they take on the very best, however, and the issue of new signings went away.
Now Manchester United and Chelsea have within a week so brutally highlighted the defects again. Both powerful and potent on the break, Arsenal have been swept aside and it is too late now to recruit. Nicklas Bendtner may be back but it will take a while to reach full fitness. It will be mid-April before Robin Van Persie is ready again.
Wenger is a treasure of the English game and will be seriously missed when he is gone. His like are few and far between, his civilising influence on both our footballing culture and quality of play immense.
The fact that Arsenal have won nothing now for almost five years is irksome - especially to Wenger the winner - but in mitigation they have reached Champions League and Carling Cup finals and produced some beautiful, competitive football at the same time as diverting much of their revenue into developing the club by building a monumental stadium.
The Frenchman will surely be seen, as Herbert Chapman was in a distant era, a visionary who led the club into the vanguard of a new age and left an astonishing legacy.
Here comes the but. Wenger is now so wedded to a way of playing and an ethos that gives youth his head that he is in danger of developing blind spots, with both personnel and strategy.
It could mean that Arsenal will be eclipsed for some time to come unless there is a shift in thinking, which has nothing to do with money available to him. He has said, after all, as have the board, that there is a decent transfer fund.
Recently, Wenger complained that Aston Villa were a long-ball team. It was amusing since they are the least long-ball Martin O'Neill team in memory. Under O'Neill's management, Leicester City were once a direct team - ironically seeing off Villa in a League Cup semi-final - since O'Neill had slim resources and made the most of what he had.
Now the Ulsterman has finances to bring in the more gifted players. Could it be that there was a trace of envy in Wenger's words, since Villa these days have target-man options in Emile Heskey and John Carew, should such ground-based passing talents as James Milner, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing be closed down?
For when Cesc Fabregas's passing angles are shut off, when the too-similar Tomas Rosicky, Andrei Arshavin and Samir Nasri are not hitting it off, Arsenal do not offer an alternative strategy.
None wants them to hoof the ball forward aimlessly, shoot over-ambitiously or cross to nobody, but even the neutral would enjoy them scoring the odd aerial or scruffy goal if it meant doing justice to their ability.
It is what currently sets Chelsea and Manchester United apart, as seen in their convincing wins. Didier Drogba scores bullying goals, Darren Fletcher picks up the garbage that many of Arsenal's talents appear too sniffy to undertake. Too many of them are slow to react to counter-attacks, thus leaving the back four so horribly exposed.
Perhaps Arsenal will yet rescue themselves. With the heat of expectation turned off, the game against Liverpool at the Emirates in midweek was a chance to begin on a high note a less demanding run of games. And while Liverpool may be on a decent run, they are still a comparatively lame force these days.
Arsenal did come back from a big deficit to Chelsea in the Autumn and should they and United stumble, the Gunners may yet come with a run. They do also still have the Champions League to aim for so those calling for Wenger's head would do well to press the mute button for a while.
But the problems are not going away, it has to be admitted, and Wenger is showing signs of denial rather than acceptance. A few months ago he accepted that the youth of his side is no excuse. After Chelsea on Sunday, he pointed to the home side's average age of 29 giving them the edge on his side averaging 23.
He has to ask whether some of these players are mentally tough enough and if he has indulged them for too long. He has to get them to enter the real world and take on some of the necessary but unpleasant elements of the game. The counterpoint to attacking well as individuals is defending forcefully collectively.
Wenger also needs to get his own hands dirty in the transfer market. There is also an old saying aimed at keeping perfectionists sane that Wenger could learn from: If all else fails, lower your standards.
