Frustrations boiled over after Arsenal conceded a late, late goal in the 1-1 draw with Slavia Prague, leaving their Europa League hopes hanging by a thread.
The Gunners missed a host of clear-cut chances, with Alexandre Lacazette, Bukayo Saka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all guilty of passing up opportunities.
But Nicolas Pepe looked to have spared his teammates’ blushes when he dinked over the onrushing ‘keeper with just four minutes to go.
However, with seconds left, Arsenal conceded a corner from which Thomas Holes headed beyond Bernd Leno to score the all-important away goal.
It means that a 0-0 draw next week in Czech Republic, will be enough to dump Mikel Arteta’s side out of European competition.
As the seconds ticked away, it appeared that the hosts had the game in hand, keeping possession among their defenders.
Less than two minutes later however, Arsenal’s defences had been breached on another dismal night in an ever-increasingly concerning campaign.
As the players sulked off the Emirates pitch, a furious Granit Xhaka was overheard screaming at his team for once again, playing themselves into trouble at the back.
It’s not the first time Arsenal have fallen foul to overplaying it in their own half and Xhaka has clearly had enough, shouting: "Just clear the f****** ball away man.”
Speaking after the damaging draw, Arteta seemed to hint that he agreed with Xhaka, claiming his players kept the ball in areas they didn’t need to.
“We missed some big, big chances, I must say, but then we played two or three balls in certain areas we should not do,” the Arsenal boss said.
“We put ourselves on the back foot, we concede the corner and from there, they put a lot of bodies in there and anything can happen.
“Obviously it changes a lot of the feeling for after the game.”
Ahead of next week’s season defining second-leg, Arteta added that his side would go to win, to ensure there is no such late drama.
“We need to win the game. The mindset is going to be to go there to win the game,” he continued.
“We need to score and we know that. We’ve done it in the past and we need to do it again.
“We just worry about our players and the things that we have to do.”
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