Arsenal knew going in to Sunday's meeting with Tottenham Hotspur that the results of Man Utd and Man City earlier in the day had left a chance for them to get back into the race for the top four. They shouldn't have needed any additional motivation to get themselves up for a meeting with their bitter rivals, but they had it.
And yet, once again, they failed to deliver. After restoring a bit of confidence with an FA Cup semi-final win over City, they were once again widely mocked for capitulating as they conceded two goals in as many minutes to fall 2-0 to Spurs, and needed goalkeeper Petr Cech to keep the scoreline respectable.
In the Sky Sports studio following the final whistle, Jamie Redknapp singled out Mesut Ozil for criticism after the German turned in another anonymous performance.
Redknapp directly compared Ozil to Spurs' attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen to point out how off the pace he was, and labelled him a passenger, something he feels Arsenal have far too many of.
I want just mention Christian Eriksen, and then on the flipside look at Mesut Ozil today.
Very similar players, I would say, in a nice way, luxury players, the sort of player that can open the door and you don't expect them to put too much hard work in.
But when I looked at Mesut Ozil compared to Eriksen, it was such a distinct difference between the two in terms of work ethic, pressing, the amount of times Eriksen won the ball back for his team, but also got involved in open play.
I thought he was fantastic today, Eriksen, and I looked at what Mesut Ozil offered his team, when you want someone to work a bit of magic, and at times.. We've mentioned the word, I've said it, Frank [Lampard] has said it, passengers.
You can't have passengers in these North London derbies.
There are too many players that look comfortable in that red and white shirt shirt and don't deserve to be in it. Not good enough, and not only that, but not trying hard enough.
It's true that Christian Eriksen was magnificent on the day, as he has been all season. The Dane perhaps doesn't get the recognition he deserves as one of the best players in the league, but he made Ozil look even worse today, as if the German didn't do that enough by himself.
Wenger out or not, there are going to have to be more changes at Arsenal than just the manager.
