Perhaps that shock win at Chelsea was a fluke after all.
Perhaps the hope it offered that Manuel Pellegrini could ride out the pressure he’d been under was a false dawn.
Because this surrender from West Ham was abysmal.
Arsenal were shocking during the first half. Desperate, disillusioned and going nowhere.
No shot on target and no real suggestion the could bounce back from Angelo Ogbonna’s 37th-minute goal which looked like ending Freddie Ljungberg’s brief reign in charge.
However poor Arsenal were, though, West Ham were worse. Felipe Anderson, all £22million of him, was abysmal. At times operating at walking pace with Arsenal there for the taking.
In fact, for all that money spent improving the Irons squad they are still ponderous, still leaden-footed and still retain that unerring ability to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Their decision-making was poor at one up when a bit of joined-up thinking would have left Arsenal with nowhere to go.
Robert Snodgrass all too often went for the over-elaborate when the simple pass would do. Defender Fabian Balbuena put his own keeper, David Martin, under pressure with a needless back-pass which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang almost chased down.
Anderson, with players in support, ignored them and went for goal from distance himself with a weak effort, easily cleared.
Mark Noble, with everything to his left, found himself surrounded by Arsenal players who were able to worry him off the ball.
Time and again, with players in the box, West Ham would take a touch too many and surrender possession.
You can only do that so many times against a side with Arsenal’s front line. Eventually they are going to realise you don’t want to win.
Pellegrini is back under the cosh and rightly so. If you can’t put a side this bad to the sword you deserve to be.
