Aaron Ramsey shouldn’t have been picking up Steven Reid, an obvious miss match but without Diaby, Song, Djourou, Bendtner and Chamakh in our line up we were seriously lacking height and dominance

Two goalkeeping blunders cost Arsenal some crucial points on Saturday in two of the crunch games at the top of the table.

Bolton had restricted ten man Manchester United to a handful of chances at home and carved out good chances of their own until Jussi Jaaskelainen spilled a routine shot into the path of Berbatov with only a couple minutes to go.

Meanwhile Manuel Almunia horribly misjudged a situation at 1-0 down, Arsenal were on the attack when the home side won the ball back and Mulumbu whacked a long ball forward to Peter Odemwingie, Sebastien Squillaci was goal side of his man with a few yards to spare, the ball bounced up rather strangely which caught Squillaci out as the defender was expecting the ball to bounce forward towards his goalkeeper instead of behind him and Odemwingie had the easy task of rolling the ball into an empty net. Had Almunia stayed at home then Odemwingie’s route to goal would have been somewhat more complicated with both Sagna and Koscielny on the way back to help. 2-0 to the Albion.

As always I look closely at the way we start the game as it is often a microcosm of the game, at least a majority of the remaining 90 minutes. It reminded me of the Carling Cup final or the start against Sunderland at the Emirates. We looked tentative and unsure of ourselves. A lack of cohesion and fluidity was instantly apparent. Just as those thoughts were swimming around my head we conceded a corner after Sagna allowed his man to get goal side and Koscielny put the ball out for a corner.

Aaron Ramsey shouldn’t have been picking up Steven Reid, an obvious miss match but without Diaby, Song, Djourou, Bendtner and Chamakh in our line up we were seriously lacking height and dominance in the air. Reid won the header without much pressure from Ramsey and West Brom scored with the first chance of the game.

I mentioned in the pre match thoughts that a midfield trio of Denilson, Wilshere and Ramsey looked too inexperienced for such an important game and even with Rosicky not at his best, I would have started the Czech in place of Ramsey who hasn’t started for Arsenal this season.

I expected a stronger display from the start as I thought we started well at Old Trafford last weekend. Even though we lacked a cutting edge that day, I thought our build up play was returning but it had vanished on Saturday. We lacked an intensity on and off the ball both with our attacking and our defending.

With ten games left, I was expecting our players to leave nothing in the locker. To fight and scrap for the points but it feels as if we are going back to our bad habits of coasting through the early stages only to increase our efforts late in games when time is running out.

I find that more disappointing that a goalkeeping error. I find that more disappointing than a missed chance.

The team are not sticking to the formula that had picked up so many vital wins since our league defeat at Old Trafford. I sympathise with the lack of belief, I also appreciate that players have lost form. These are all part and parcel of football but our habit of starting games in first gear and allowing the opposition to get in the game or in our case, score first is killing us.

Denilson’s confidence looks shot right now, he was way below his best and Wenger’s decision to replace him at half time was the correct one. Aaron Ramsey was also anonymous in the first half and it was part of the reason why we lacked the needed fluidity between midfield and attack.

It begs the question, does the 4-2-3-1 formation work without Cesc and Walcott?

The switch to 4-4-2/4-2-4 in last week’s cup tie and then against West Brom were massive. We looked a better and more penetrative team when Chamakh partnered Van Persie.

The definite positive from a largely bad weekend was the fight back from the players in the second half. At 2-0 down it would have been easy for heads to drop and for the players to feel sorry for themselves but instead they fought back.

Andrey Arshavin reminded everyone why he is our record signing. He scored a goal that only he could from our squad. Taking Chamakh’s pass into his stride with his right and then lashing in with his left into the far corner.

Ten minutes from time Van Persie slid in on Méité from close range to force the ball over the line for the equaliser. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the winner while Manchester United did.

The title is still in our hands, win our remaining nine games and we win the title but can we win the title playing the way we are? I would say that it is unlikely.

There is still hope. We have an International break coming up and if we can get through that without additional injuries then we should have Cesc, Song and Walcott on the way back. Those three players are all vital to the way we play. If Manchester United continue to play the way they have then they will continue to drop points away from Old Trafford.

The team can go two ways, build on the second half fight back or continue to show their fear on the pitch. Only one will win the title the other will not.

Almunia (4)
Sagna (5)
Squillaci (6)
Koscielny (6)
Clichy (7)
Denilson (4)
Wilshere (6)
Ramsey (5)
Nasri (6)
Van Persie (6)
Arshavin (7)

Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions