Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta

OLD Slaven Bilic gets a battling draw at Manchester City – not something Arsenal do much – and wakes up to find he’s been sacked as manager of West Bromwich Albion.

Arsenal get a home draw against Southampton after four losses and it’s considered a good result, some glorious turning point. Not even a whisper that there might need to be a review of the club’s current course.

You may balk at the comparison, but Arsenal have only scored one more league goal than West Brom this season.

Do you think West Brom would stay up if Arteta was their manager?

Let’s be honest, Mikel Arteta was a Southampton shot grazing the post away from becoming the first ever Arsenal manager to lose five at home in a row. A few fortunate bounces have saved the day but they shouldn’t conceal in any way what’s going on.

These past five home defeats were not against Liverpool or Manchester City. They were against teams that had not won away at Arsenal for years.

So what could be the criteria which would make Edu and co reconsider their comments that the club have a “beautiful” future under Arteta?

• Sell the wrong goalkeeper. ✓

• Repeatedly choose Willock over Smith Rowe, and Nketiah over Balogun. ✓

• Freeze out some players for ill discipline but let others stay. ✓

• Not give an expensive defender who everybody says could be brilliant a chance to even come on as a substitute. ✓

• Sign yet more Chelsea has-beens even though none of them have ever really been a success at Arsenal. ✓

• Play the club’s top scorer out of position until he looks like a depressed lion. ✓

• Play quite dull football and refuse to ever change the formation. ✓

• Lose five home games in a row. Almost. ✓

• Go defeated in two north London derbies in a row. ✓

• See Theo Walcott, the ultimate Arsenal underachiever, score against you. ✓

• Never properly explain why Mesut Ozil – paid £350,000-a-week – is told to stay at home. ✓

• Jump around like a demented clown trying to convince a fourth official to add extra minutes to the injury time, trying to cover the board with your arms. X

No, Arteta has not done that. That is a joke about Pep Guardiola, who was so frustrated on Tuesday evening that his team could not beat Bilic’s side that he exploded in rage and started to mount the digital sign.

Trouble is, with Arsenal in a disastrous freefall, we couldn’t really enjoy such a priceless moment.