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After watching his Arsenal side eat a slice of humble pie with a 3-0 defeat by Crystal Palace, Mikel Arteta was left to carry the burden of another “unacceptable” display. But the reality is this result is something the Spaniard may have seen coming months ago.

The Gunners had recorded six wins in their last seven Premier League matches and looked a safe bet to go on and secure a top-four finish ahead of Tottenham and Manchester United. Win this game and they were three points ahead of the former and six clear of the latter with a game in hand. Certainly, they had enough to carve out a favourable result at Selhurst Park.

But quite simply, they never got going. The north London side were made to feel uncomfortable by Patrick Vieira’s men, with Conor Gallagher and Wilfried Zaha using their energy to become pressing menaces. And when Palace had their chances to score, they took them with precision as Jean-Philippe Mateta, Jordan Ayew and Zaha sealed a convincing victory.

Arteta had no answer or excuse for their morale-damaging defeat and labelled the performance “unacceptable”. But his assessment of where they lost the game proved to be the most interesting remark: “We discussed it just before kick-off, the way you win here is when you compete the way you