Arsenal's fizz has gone! At Chelsea it was men against boys... now will Pellegrini's powerhouses pile on even more pressure?

By Neil Ashton for MailOnline

Published: 18:00 EDT, 28 March 2014 | Updated: 19:39 EDT, 28 March 2014

In the end it was an innocuous question about the work of Arsenal’s team psychologist that gave the game away.

‘What we do inside (the club)... nobody tells you how to make Coca-Cola,’ was Arsene Wenger’s defensive response to a routine enquiry about matters at London Colney.

In other words, what goes on here is none of your business.

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The brutal truth is that Arsenal have become Coca-Cola Zero: a nice try, but nothing like the real thing.

If only Arsenal’s manager had not lost the secret recipe, the one for the product we guzzled in his first 500 games in charge, then we would not have swapped them for another brand.

Wenger tampered with the mix in 2004 and allowed lesser rivals — Chelsea, Manchester United and this evening’s opponents, Manchester City — to nip in and steal the market share. The fizz has gone.

‘We live in a society where there are thousands of opinions every day and some go for you and some go against you,’ said Wenger.

And everybody seems to be airing their opinion on Arsenal these days, particularly after the spiky attack from Paul Scholes in the Sky Sports studio on Wednesday evening.

‘These lot,’ announced Scholes dismissively, ‘are a million miles away from winning the title.’

Defeat: Arsenal haven't yet recovered from the 6-0 battering they took at the hands of Chelsea

Opinion: Former United midfielder Paul Scholes let loose about how far Arsenal were away from the title

If you closed your eyes, you could imagine him delivering this kind of withering assessment in the  United dressing room before a big game. ‘These lot...’ 

The full three-minute video, which even had match analyst Gary Neville wincing alongside him, is compelling viewing. It is also an accurate assessment of Arsenal.

To think that until February 12, when they were knocked off the top of the Barclays Premier League following a 0-0 draw at home to United, people seemed convinced it was Arsenal’s title to lose.

The reality, though, is that the Gunners are eight or nine players, possibly more now, short if they want to cross the finishing line ahead of Chelsea, City or Liverpool in the Premier League.

On Saturday, Wenger’s traumatised team take on Manuel Pellegrini’s side at the Emirates and there is no telling how they will react when confronted by another powerful opponent. That 6-3 defeat at the Etihad in December still haunts them.

Growing old: The first 500 games of the Wenger reign were much more successful than the second

‘It is always the same when you lose games because people say you have no leaders,’ said Wenger. 

‘The other night against Swansea we conceded a goal when we had Kim Kallstrom, who is over 30 with 100 caps, Mikel Arteta, who is over 30, and Mathieu Flamini, who is over 30, in midfield.’ 

But none of them are soldiers, the real tough cookies you need alongside you when it all gets a bit messy.

At Chelsea last weekend, when Arsenal were drubbed 6-0, there was a height difference, on average, of 6cm per player. Men against boys.

This evening the muscular presence of Yaya Toure (6ft 2in) and Fernandinho (below, 5ft 9in) will bump into Arteta (5ft 9in), Flamini (5ft 10in) and Cazorla (5ft 5in).

‘We changed our style, we lost players like Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit and didn’t find them any more,’ admitted Wenger.

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Leader: Arsenal miss a figure like Patrick Vieira in the middle of the park controlling matters

‘Since Vieira left, the whole of England has looked for the next Vieira and nobody has found him. You could make the same reproach about Barcelona.’ 

To bring Barcelona, who have won five La Liga titles and three European Cups since Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2005, into this seemed unfair on the Catalan club. They operate at another level.

Wenger added: ‘We had Fabregas, but do we not play him because he is not as tall as Vieira? Do we not play Jack Wilshere? We have to take the players we have. The one player who gives us a strong physical element in our midfield is Aaron Ramsey and we have lost him at the wrong period of the season.’ 

It is possible that Arsenal will claw their way past City at the Emirates, yet it will all feel like a refreshing swig from the glass rather than anything more  substantial. The constitution of this team is in question.

Improving: Scholes said that Jack Wilshere is no better now than he was when he was 17

Gone: Arsenal's defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League meant the FA Cup is their only trophy hope

Out: Since they lost Aaron Ramsey to injury Arsenal have struggled to maintain their league form

Since referee Andre Marriner sent off Kieran Gibbs at Stamford Bridge last Saturday after mistaking him for handball culprit Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain — an incident correctly described as ‘an honest mistake’ by Wenger — there has been a short period of time for some introspection.

‘Don’t worry, I question myself a lot and if I have one quality — or flaw — it is maybe that,’ said the Arsenal manager. ‘If you ask me if I have made zero mistakes in the past year, I am not stupid enough to say yes.

'We are in a position where we can still fight for the top, we are in the semi-final of the FA Cup and went out of the Champions League to Bayern Munich with 10 men (in the first leg). I don’t think you can say our season has been a failure.’

This is Wenger’s rule of law, the world according to the Arsenal manager after building his empire. He remains untouchable here.

‘The only game this season where we were really beaten was at  Liverpool (5-1),’ he claimed.

‘The rest is a bit more of a coincidence. At Chelsea the game was over after 10 minutes and at Liverpool we were outplayed.

‘One week later we beat Liverpool (2-1 in the FA Cup fourth round) and no-one says there is a gap between the two teams. You play 10 times the same team and every time it’s a different game.’

Wenger has repackaged this team enough times over the years and yet, despite his defiant words, they have lost their sparkle. Soon enough it will be time for a rebrand.