Arsenal have a creative block and the artillery but still no…

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that the two astronauts who rode the SpaceX Falcon 9 to the International Space Station in May are now preparing to come home.

Perhaps NASA should seek advice from Arsenal. After the high of beating Liverpool and Manchester City in successive games, a match at Villa Park brought them straight back down to earth.

Last night’s defeat means Arsenal will finish outside the top seven, their worst placing in 25 years, rendering qualification for Europe via the Premier League impossible in their Sunday finale at home to Watford. It is a testament to how far they have fallen that Arsenal beating City or Liverpool probably now ranks as a bigger shock than this loss to Villa.

We did not learn a great deal that was new about Arsenal in this game. Those back-to-back wins against the top two came playing in a particular style: sitting deep, surrendering possession, looking to attack on the break and capitalise on defensive errors. In…