The kindest thing to say on Arsenal’s behalf is that Arsene Wenger, his staff and players could not have known quite how good Sheffield Wednesday would be, even if his spies had watched every minute of a seven-match unbeaten run in the Championship.
It may be easy to defend, as Wenger once claimed in his frustration with Jose Mourinho, but to organise a team perfectly in every aspect, as Carlos Carvalhal did, was something else.
An individual performance from Ross Wallace of which Alexis Sanchez would have been proud did the rest and, when Hillsborough’s rafters ring, football seems a better place.
The prospect of Wednesday returning to the Premier League would not, however, have preoccupied every Arsenal fan all the way back down the M1. No, injuries had struck again — and when the team appeared to be functioning so well, equal on points with League leaders Manchester City and even hinting at European revival.
Wenger blamed Wales for Aaron Ramsey’s strain against Bayern Munich but it would be stretching a point — or a hamstring — too far to hold Roy Hodgson responsible for the early departures of first Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and then his replacement, Theo Walcott.
Especially as Walcott, after scoring against Estonia, was rested in Lithuania and Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored in the second match, played only 17 minutes of the first.
If Arsenal have to look anywhere, it is, once more, at themselves. They keep changing staff and the problem continues. Perhaps it is a curse; the evil eye has been cast for lesser offences than that of not wearing red shirts and white shirts without good reason.
Sheffield Wednesday vs Arsenal - player ratings
Two shades of blue? I’m serious; Wenger talked about Arsenal “respecting the competition” but, as soon as his team ran out, you could see they were not. The performance confirmed it. Fortunately, they have enough credit in the bank to go to Swansea with confidence — as well as a hamper full of cotton wool.
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