Spineless. And Toothless.

And so it goes on...

Yet another defeat - this time at the hands of an in-form Everton side - leaves Arsenal rooted in the bottom 6 of the Premier League table for Christmas. A single win in the past 9 Premier League games is not the type of present we were hoping for.

And so a team, lacking in confidence and now shorn not just of Thomas Partey, but of the suspended Gabriel and the suddenly injured Aubameyang - its spine removed, in other words - had a difficult task on paper and, frankly, and even harder one on the pitch.

With Aubameyang out, Nketiah was once more preferred to Lacazette. Surprising? Perhaps. But I think that what was more frustrating was to see the ease with which Willian was restored to the side. As for the rest of Arteta's selection; well, there were no additional surprises there. 

However, with 9(!) now permitted on the substitutes bench, I am sure that Folarin Balogun can count himself extremely unlucky not to have made the squad. Raw and thoroughly inexperienced he may be, I nonetheless sense from what I've seen (against admittedly extremely inferior Europa League opposition) that he has a touch of the Ian Wrights about him. We'll see him on Wednesday, surely?

Now, a 2-1 defeat doesn't look too bad, I suppose. But the critical moments of the game and the underlying stats tell a different story. Arsenal had 58% possession away from home; pretty good, one might say. But they managed to conjure up just 9 attempts on goal,and just two on target - including Pepe's penalty (the other a 96th-minute opportunity for Saka), from all that possession. So here was another side (like Sp*rs) happy to concede possession to Arsenal in the happy knowledge that they had very little with which to hurt them.

Add to that the lack of engagement from midfield, which helped Everton in those crucial moments. Keane was allowed to run 30 yards and unleash a decent long shot early on. For Everton's first goal, they were allowed too much space and for the cross to be made too close to goal (Holding was unlucky to deflect the ball goalwards), and for the second, the corner from which they scored would not have been conceded (terrific save from Leno by the way) if anyone had got close to Calvert-Lewin to prevent him getting a shot away. All I can conclude from this is that Elneny is not (surprise surprise) the answer.

And at the corner... well, from being the only side yet to concede from a set-piece this season Arsenal have now let in two from near post corners in three games. Surely a personnel issue in both cases, and one that must be addressed on the training pitch.

Pepe took his penalty (rightly awarded) coolly. However, he didn't do much else of note and I have a sense that he needs either better players around him, or the team to be doing better overall, to really make his mark on this league. Ceballos was quiet; disappointingly so. And Willian once again didn't contribute much, and I found it miraculous that he lasted the full 90 minutes. What we would have all noted, however, is that the main threat came through Saka and/or Maitland-Niles (preferred to Bellerin). Youngsters who definitely deserve to keep their places. And we saw a cameo from the returning Martinelli - he's going to walk into this side once he's fully match-fit.

Everton really didn't have a moment's worry in the second half, despite all the Arsenal possession, until injury time. What Arteta needs to find is a set of players, or a formula, that will get the opposition thinking. We all know that Arsenal can line up as a 'low block', but up against one they appear almost clueless.

Actually, talk of the 'low block' is relevant to the next two games - Citeh in the EFL Cup and then Chelsea (our FA Cup semi-final and final victims of course). It's almost possible to feel optimistic about those two games, as we know for sure that the onus won't be on Arsenal to make the running in those games.

By now, surely, Arteta's thoughts must be turning to the January transfer window and how to shake up his squad. Well, I've given it a bit of thought, and I wonder if he can start some drastic work right now. 

Edu admitted last week during a Fans' Forum that it's clear that 'a player with creativity in the middle' is desperately needed. So... Mesut Ozil - either bring him back into the fold for the last 5 months of his contract or pay him off, and invest in some creativity immediately. If Arteta can't get the player he wants until the summer, then he must surely restore Ozil in the short term?

Mustafi, Kolasinac, Sokratis and maybe Bellerin (now looking unlikely to ever be the player he was post-injury) to be moved out of the club. Hopefully Xhaka too. Saliba to come back into either or both squads? Why not? And if Torreira is coming back (Simeone doesn't fancy him, apparently) he can also come straight back in, please. I know that he doesn't want to be in England, but unless he can be moved directly from Spain to Italy in January then needs must...

But please - no more sniffing around the Stamford Bridge dustbins. There's generally a good reason why these players are no longer wanted by Chelsea...

Arsenal are in a massive slump, as we all know. There are two aspects to this. A short-term fix, and a long-term plan. But they need to go hand in hand and the club must now invest in and properly utilise the excellent crop of young players coming through. Saka, Martinelli and Maitland-Niles are the three most important, but there's also Saliba (hopefully), Willock, Nketiah, Balogun, Nelson and Smith Rowe to consider. The future doesn't look quite as bleak if we consider this; but the team firstly need to get out of this slump. 

For Manchester United post-Ferguson, read Arsenal post-Wenger. United aren't out of the woods yet, and Ferguson left many years (and 4 managers) ago. We knew there would be a lot of pain, and it hasn't helped that of the Executive Team that was set up half a dozen years ago to ease the post-Wenger pain all are now gone. I don't weep for Gazidis, or for Sannlehi. But I was sorry to see both Mislintat and (especially) Cagigao go. 

There seems to be a void of genuine football experience at the club now; oh how we relied on Arsene Wenger for so much more than we thought... we have a rookie manager, and rookies elsewhere too. An old head or two may be needed to help steady the ship and stop it sinking.

I don't hold out much hope for the next two matches. The big ones, sadly, are the away fixtures at Brighton and WBA that follow. How has it come to this?

On a cheerier note, it's good to see The Axis Of Evil (i.e. Mourinho's Sp*rs) going through a bit of pain at the moment too. Three successive disapppointing results for them. That'll have to be our Christmas present.

See you after Boxing Day. Have a good, safe and healthy one :)