Sometimes, it feels like they never even started, but this year they were for real. Arsenal's title hopes, that is.
It was mainly down to the poor form shown by other teams - Man Utd, Chelsea, the Man City mercenaries.
Still, Arsenal, the great innovators when if comes to screwing up great opportunities, are in the midst of doing so once again.
Losses to a callow Man Utd team and a Swansea side with ambitions no great than avoiding the drop mean Arsene Wenger's hopes of a title are quickly dissipating.
On Soccer Saturday, Paul Merson's anger regarding the situation was clearly evident. He is especially antagonised by their lack of a killer edge.
I can imagine when you get in the dressing room after the game, you've just lost the last two games. After the Swansea game, they all go in the dressing room and they go like that [heads bowed] and Arsene goes 'Unlucky. Unlucky. They only had two shots and they scored two.'
Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch are examples Ramsey, Ozil and co should take inspiration from, according to Merse.
Winners, when they get you on the floor, they get you on the floor and they make you suffer. Swansea were there to get beat 5-0 the other night. All they wanted to do was beat Norwich on Saturday. If they'd been beat 5-0 by Arsenal they would have been 'this is our game'.
You don't see Calzaghe and Froch when they were boxing Jeff, you didn't see them get on top and then let the other boxer in for a couple of rounds. They went 'Bang, see you later.' Off again, who's the next fighter.
You can watch Merson's little tirade below.
