Without a doubt, this has to be one of the lowest points I can remember as an Arsenal supporter and the anger within the fallout from Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester United, I certainly feel that. While I will not fall into the trap of losing sight of the bigger picture, it is important to discuss how Arsenal have got here.

Arsenal should have won this match, not because they deserved it more than Manchester United, but because of what they created, the chances they had and the way the game played out. We’ve seen this story before, even just days ago when the Gunners were beaten by Newcastle – the chances created in that game should have been taken.

The same against Everton, Fulham, Liverpool and Brighton (home) can be likened to these losses of points and progression and these games in which chances were missed have proven and could yet still prove very costly indeed. This is where it gets difficult to agree with Mikel Arteta.

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“Incredible how you don’t win that game, that’s basically to sum up,” he said in the post-match press conference. “The dominance, the superiority in relation to the opposition and everything that we did to try to win the game and that’s it we didn’t get what we deserved clearly.

“But there is an element that is about putting the ball in the back of the net that we did once and the amount of situations, chances, penalties that we had we didn’t. We go home extremely sad, but I cannot be prouder of my players, the team, the individual collectively what they produced on Wednesday against two top teams, it's incredible.”

It is all well and good when you say something along the lines of playing that game a hundred times more and you win ninety-nine but the irony is Arsenal keep playing these games, and they keep dropping points.

Yes, the goal tally is better than it was at the same stage last season, but if we are measuring where gains can be had to get the club closer to silverware, it is impossible to ignore what an elite centre-forward would do for this side.

Martin Odegaard generated an expected assist value of more than three against Manchester United and had zero assists to show for it. Chance after chance came and went and then two huge opportunities for Kai Havertz were missed that at this level never, ever should be.

A moment of true sadness was when Havertz missed his penalty and people in the Arsenal end of the ground got up to leave. I cannot stress enough how saddening that is to see – of course worse were some of the comments seen online relating to the forward which go beyond any sporting discourse and hopefully some consequence, rare I know, can be realised.

Back to the football however, and with the amount of missed chances comes the most obvious of follow-on conversations, transfers. Close to two weeks into the January transfer window and we are yet to see any true links to a forward.

We cannot pretend that there have not been players available either with Omar Marmoush looking likely to move to Manchester City and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the way to PSG. A lot has been made of Arsenal Profit and Sustainability freedoms but football.london understands that despite this compliance, the club are aware of UEFA Financial Fair Play restrictions and therefore when they spend, it will be on somebody they are entirely convinced by.

Again, I go back to when I asked Arteta myself about whether the January window would ever see the loosening of the high bar that Arsenal set when it comes to making a decision on a transfer. His response was a very simple and perhaps predictable, my fault maybe, that they do not want bodies.

Now, while Marmoush and Kvaratskhelia I certainly wouldn’t describe as ‘bodies’, I know they will add to their new sides. The idea that Arsenal could end the January transfer window by not signing anybody is both realistic and scary.

Made worse, of course, by the sight of Gabriel Jesus leaving the field on a stretcher. This means that now Jesus joins Ben White, Bukayo Saka and Takehiro Tomiyasu as a potential long-term absentee.

Riccardo Calafiori was also missing from the matchday squad and both Jorginho and Jurrien Timber needed to be replaced during the game and were unable to finish the match. With so many shortages, it is hard to objectively see Arsenal winning the title or the Champions League, and people will not like that but that is the truth.

Had Liverpool lost Mohamed Salah, like Manchester City lost their Rodri, how different would their season be? We know from drop-offs when the Egyptian footballing genius has not been available that these struggles are unsurprising.

Yet, expectations continue to be unwavering for many despite the mitigating circumstances of the season and the tangible evidence of what losing your best player does to even those who were your closest rivals. While I do not align with this view, come February if there has not been the effort made to address our ever increasingly obvious needs there will, rightfully, be questions being asked.