The Gunners started Saturday at the top of the table but their crushing defeat at the hands of Liverpool meant they slipped into second with Manchester City picking up a point at Norwich and Chelsea securing all three at home to Newcastle.

Arsenal conceded the opening goal inside a minute of the first half and were shell-shocked as a rampant Liverpool scored an incredible four goals before even 20 minutes were played. The Reds scored a fifth in the second half before Arteta’s penalty gave the fans something to cheer about.

Brendan Rodger’s Liverpool tore Arsenal apart, for whom many players just did not turn up. Ahead of a daunting set of fixtures, Wenger has demanded an immediate response from his beleaguered team.

According to the Daily Mail, he said, “What is important is that we respond to that result, especially respond with a different performance because our performance overall was poor. On the concentration level, on pace, on defensive stability, it was very poor and we always looked vulnerable.”

He added, “I just think the whole team have failed to turn up with the right performance. We know that you need to be better focused at this kind of level. Overall our performance was just not good enough and I include myself in that performance.”

The only positive is that Arsenal remain only a point behind Chelsea and are a point ahead of Man City and they still have to play both teams on consecutive weekends at the end of March so they have the chance to hurt their direct rivals by beating them in what will be true six-pointers.