Can Mikel Arteta get Arsenal firing again before they throw away the title?

Come on then. Own up. Which one of you forgot to bring your dinner to the Emirates on Saturday lunchtime?

Mikel Arteta was clear before the match against Bournemouth. Three simple instructions: early breakfast, bring your lunch, bring your dinner.

You see, he has done everything possible from his end. He’s made the players do the rondo training drill while holding pens. He put an AI TikTok video on the big screen, exhorting Arsenal to “make it happen”. What more could he possibly do? A competent attacking plan from open play? Pah, don’t be ridiculous.

The 2-1 loss to Bournemouth marked Arsenal’s third defeat in four games. In that time, they have lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City, been dumped out of the FA Cup by Southampton, and put the title into the aforementioned City’s hands. In none of those matches could Arsenal feel hard done by. This is a team who now look totally ­listless. Call it out of sorts, call it tired, call it bottling. Whatever it’s called, it looks ominous.

They were fortunate in this match to get back on level terms after Eli Kroupi Jr had given Bournemouth the lead. Yet when Ryan Christie was ­unable to move his hand out of the way of Gabriel’s close-range shot in the penalty area, Viktor Gyökeres was able to pull them back level. Here, surely, was a moment for Arsenal to kick on, with 55 minutes left to find the win.

But there was little suggestion that this spurred on Arsenal. They ­continued to struggle to get any ­control of the ball against a Bournemouth midfield admirably marshalled by the excellent Alex Scott. His 74th-minute winner was a fair return for a performance that ­contained all the freedom and ­creativity that Arsenal lacked.

The lack of urgency was typified by Ben White’s ponderous attempts at throw-ins. Arteta was on the sideline imploring Arsenal fans to calm down as they got frustrated, no doubt too full of energy after the early breakfast. When Arsenal sped up, they only looked worse, rushing but playing without the technical quality to make it stick. In the opening 20 minutes both Gyökeres and Noni Madueke ran the ball out of play on their own steam. Leandro Trossard completed the set when he did the same with Arsenal chasing a goal in the final 15 minutes. At least they got on the ball though. Gabriel Martinelli managed only eight touches in 54 minutes on the pitch.

That was when Arteta had seen enough and went for the 16-year-old Hail Mary of Max Dowman. Thrown in alongside Eberechi Eze and Trossard, Arteta had used Dowman to unlock the previous Premier League match here against Everton. There is no doubt the teenager has been the ­brightest of Arsenal’s attacking options in this turgid ­couple of weeks. Yet that feels like a serious ­indictment of the rest of the squad, as well as the manager’s tactics.

Everyone knows Arsenal have been a tough watch all season. It is one ­reason why their potential failure is being looked upon so gleefully by the rest of the footballing world. Style doesn’t matter when you are winning, but it becomes a problem if you are losing and your tactical move of choice is to put your centre-back up top for the final ten minutes. Although credit it where it is due – Gabriel did pull off one very nice nutmeg.

There are, at least, new records being broken by this Arsenal side. On Saturday they became the first team to be booed off the pitch while nine points clear at the top of the league.

“It’s a big punch in the face,” Arteta said about the result. Ironically, that was what Arsenal fans wanted to do to the Bournemouth analyst who had the temerity to celebrate their victory at the whistle. He had to be escorted out by security after a long standoff with the irate home supporters.

The unrest feels ridiculous on the one hand and entirely correct on the other. The gap may look big, but Manchester City have two games in hand. One is a visit to a Chelsea team today whose only victories in the past month have come against teams a minimum of a division below them. Then City host Arsenal next ­weekend with the luxury of a free week. Their opponents, meanwhile, will be ­aiming to ensure they don’t lose out on three pieces of ­silverware in three and a half weeks when they play Sporting on Wednesday in their Champions League quarter-final second leg.

This match and the one against City next weekend represent the toughest two of Arsenal’s ­remaining fixtures. Yet when the charge is of being ­mentality minnows, then the ­quality of the opponent feels less ­relevant than the pressure the team is under. On the basis of what is being played on the pitch, however, psychology is the least of their problems now. Undoubtedly, they could do with a player taking games by the scruff of the neck, but in their tactical set-up that is firmly discouraged.

There will surely be more twists and turns in this title race. Narratives will be rewritten and assumptions challenged. But there is one certainty. If Arsenal do make it to the finish line first, and it is a lot less certain than it looked when they were six points clear of an out of sorts Manchester City at the start of February, it will have been a desperate crawl, enforced not by relentless enemy pressure but the equivalent of being made to jump when you catch yourself in the mirror.