DUNN

point, there are immediate and long-term factors that highlight the scale of the job Emery faces.

The immediate factor is that had Eden Hazard played from the beginning of this match, Chelsea would almost certainly not have had to wait until 10 minutes before time to seal victory.

The long-term issue is that the Big Six could well slim to five because, in terms of elite standard form, a malaise has long taken hold at the Emirates.

They have won only 15 of their last 33 Premier League matches, losing 13. That is strictly mid-table stuff. There is not enough to suggest the summer’s business can redirect a squad that has been wandering pretty aimlessly for quite some time.

While Stan Kroenke embarks on the route of sole ownership, this is a team too often scratching for some sort of direction.

Yet there remains so much of Arsenal to savour.

Not their defending, obviously, although Pedro’s opener owed as much to a fundamental flaw in the offside rule as it did to meandering