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Fear not Arsenal fans, the season is far from over yet - starting slowly is nothing new
This season has not quite started the way Arsenal fans would have been hoping for. Defeats at Stoke and Liverpool since a last-gasp and pretty unconvincing opening day victory over Leicester have left Arsene Wenger's side 16th in the table and already written off in the race for the top four by, well, just about everyone.
It is fair enough that the fans have grown tired of seeing the same thing happen every year, and they have every right to want to see something drastic change, but the decision among pundits to call time on Arsenal's season at this stage is ludicrously premature.
Andy Townsend called Arsenal "a mess" last week; Graeme Souness said they were "miserable"; podcast after podcast has declared Arsenal out of the race for the top four.
The problem for Arsenal fans is that the club continues to underachieve when their resources suggest they should be making a greater fist of challenging for the title, but to say they are out of the Champions League race is misguided. They have been in this position many times before.
In fact, Arsenal have won no more than one of their opening three games of a Premier League campaign in each of the last four seasons and in five of the last six. They have not won three out of three to start a season since 2005.
Two seasons ago, Arsenal opened up with a win, a draw and a loss, scoring only two goals and down in ninth after three games. Only Leicester pipped them to the title and really, Arsenal should have won it.
Back in 2011/12, Arsenal took just one point from their first three matches, scoring twice and conceding 10 times, with a 2-0 loss at home to Liverpool and that infamous 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford leaving them 18th. They went on to finish third.
In 2006/07, Wenger's side were 17th after taking just two points from their first three games, but ended up finishing fourth.
2016/17 was the first time in 20 years that Wenger had failed to lead Arsenal into the Champions League places come the end of the season, and that was after having set a record points total for a team finishing fifth in the Premier League era. They were unfortunate not to make the top four.
It is understandable that Arsenal fans have grown impatient with the lack of progress at the Emirates: while their rivals move forward there is a frustrating feeling of stagnation under Wenger. Arsenal really shouldn't be put in this position year after year.
But that said, one criticism that should not be levelled at Wenger is an inability to force a recovery.
Arsenal may have lost their last two games, but history suggests their fortune will change. Only three times in his 21 years at the club has Wenger overseen three consecutive Premier League defeats: once in December 2005, once in March/April 2007 and again in January 2012.
Of the 27 times Wenger's Arsenal have lost two games in a row, they have won the next match 20 times and drawn four. A home tie against a Bournemouth side that Arsenal have beaten on all three occasions they have faced off at home should provide the perfect respite.
The competition at the top of the table might have got stronger in recent years, but there is a hell of a long way to go this season, and Arsenal certainly shouldn't be ruled out of the race for the top four just yet. Most Arsenal fans would take Champions League qualification right now.