Arsenal receive blank reality check

THE man with the red shirt and the puce face was in no doubt. “It’s like George bloody Graham’s back in charge,’’ he bellowed, before stomping out of the Emirates, his cry scarcely audible over the cat-calls that greeted this result.

Actually, he was being unfair. As Highbury’s North Bank delighted in pointing out, at least Graham’s sides usually scored one. In contrast, Arsene Wenger’s class of 2009 can only dream of prompting chants of “1-0 to the Arsenal’’, in the Premier League at least.

Statistics might sometimes be a step down from damn lies, but here they say more than purple prose ever could. Arsenal have now registered four consecutive goalless league draws for the first time since October 1993 and have not scored more than once in a league game since 17 January. They are functional, without the fun, and their season reads like a binary code. Dark times, indeed.

Arsenal also appear to be harbouring a potentially dangerous superiority complex. All the talk after this latest tortuous afternoon was of the threat to their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, with Wenger admitting that failing to secure a seat at club football’s top table would be personally devastating.

“Everyone knows how much I want to achieve in the Champions League,’’ he said. “Reaching the tournament is not important, it’s vital. I want to be at the best possible level I can be and if I’m not, I am not happy.’’

Maybe so, but rather than craning his neck to keep track of fourth-placed Aston Villa, Wenger would now be well advised to peer over his shoulder. Everton are now two points adrift of his side and perhaps Arsenal should make retaining fifth place their priority.

Playing in the Europa League would be a chastening experience for a club with Arsenal’s ambitions — equivalent, perhaps, to accepting a date from the girl-next-door after breaking up with a supermodel — but the bald fact remains that the north Londoners no longer deserve their elite reputation.

This was not one of those increasingly rare occasions when Arsenal battered on the door for 90 minutes only to be let down by their own profligacy. Fulham attacked with panache, particularly in the first 20 minutes when Simon Davies and Andy Johnson both wasted good chances, and defended stoutly, rather than desperately.

True, Mark Schwarzer did make a brace of fine saves from Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby, while the former also hit the post with a header, but the Fulham goalkeeper was never called into frantic action.

This current Arsenal outfit simply do not inspire the awe of their forebears: they are too predictable and too threadbare in their resources. A substitutes’ bench consisting of Nicklas Bendtner, Emmanuel Eboue and a clutch of teenagers will not induce a bout of the jitters in any top flight side worth its salt.

“I’ve been watching Arsenal a lot recently and what they do is play a lot of pretty football without having that cutting edge,’’ Danny Murphy, Fulham’s impressive midfielder, said.

“In the past when you played Arsenal there were more experienced internationals. If you talk about midfield, there was Gilberto and Mathieu Flamini; then, further back, they had Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg. Those players had been there and done that. Maybe the current side lack that a little bit.’’

Wenger is not even pinning his hopes on the clutch of senior attackers currently convalescing in Arsenal’s permanently crowded treatment room. As he pointed out on Saturday, Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott were hardly rattling in goals before their injuries, while it is asking too much of Eduardo da Silva to shake off 12 months’ worth of rust in the space of a few weeks.

At least there is tomorrow’s trip to the reliably leaky West Bromwich Albion to paper over the yawning cracks, although Wenger really will start to fret if Arsenal’s goalless run continues at the Hawthorns. “We can’t afford to keep drawing,’’ Gael Clichy added. “We have to keep fighting. We know that other teams will drops points as well, but this season is a bizarre one.’’

REFEREE: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire) 7: Handled maters with quiet authority and refused to dish out a single yellow card, which made for a refreshing change.

MATCH RATING: *** Not the worst of Arsenal’s recent blank afternoons, in that both sides created chances. Fulham are becoming one of the top flight’s most impressive outfits.