Mikel Arteta insists his Arsenal side make too many mistakes to mount a top four challenge.
The Gunners were made to pay for a slow start at Aston Villa as they lost 1-0 on Saturday.
It comes just days after they saw two men sent-off in a 2-1 reverse at Wolves.
Arteta oversaw an impressive end to last season that culminated in an FA Cup win and some had tipped the north London outfit for a top four push.
But instead Arsenal find themselves in midtable having lost more games than they've won this term.
The Gunners ambitions have been hampered by defensive errors and their disciplinary record, which is the worst in the league.
And Arteta concedes that the top sides don't make such errors and bemoaned his team's response at Villa Park.
"Those teams they don’t make those mistakes," the Spaniard said when asked about a top four push.
"Those teams they cannot play in the first 22 games of the season four or five times with 10 men. It doesn’t happen.
"There is not a team in the world that can sustain that.
"And still if you make an error, you concede early, the team has to react. And the team reacted and we had more than enough to still come back and win the game.
"So if you don’t do one, you have to do the other one. Because if you don’t do neither of them when you have the chances and you are not ruthless enough in the opponents’ box, then of course you are going to lose the game."
The Gunners, despite enjoying the lions share of possession, could only muster three shots on target against Villa after falling behind within two minutes.
Arsenal sit in tenth - nine points off fourth-placed Liverpool who have played a game less.
The Gunners have not finished in the Champions League places since 2016.
