Self-pitying Arsenal must change their mentality to get title charge back on track as ghosts of failed Premier League bids threaten to emerge on visit to Leeds

Arsenal bossed the first half-hour against United, and took the lead in fortunate fashion via an own goal from Lisandro Martinez. But instead of kicking on from there, they were crippled by nerves. Martin Zubimendi gifted the visitors an equaliser when his misplaced pass put Bryan Mbeumo through on goal, and Arsenal fell behind five minutes into the second half when Patrick Dorgu arrowed an unstoppable volley in off the crossbar.

Arteta then seemed to go into a state of panic, making a baffling quadruple substitution that unnecessarily upset the balance of the midfield instead of tweaking Arsenal's approach, which, as it has been for much of the season, was to focus solely on winning set-pieces. Mikel Merino did briefly draw the Gunners level from one of those dead-ball situations, but it was United who then surged forward to find a winner, and they deservedly got it moments later as Matheus Cunha curled a wonderful 25-yard shot beyond David Raya.

Boos rang around the Emirates after the final whistle, which didn't bother Arteta as much as it should have.

"It [the reaction of the fans] doesn’t matter; we have to do more, so maybe that’s not enough," he said. "We have to do our very best. When you do that, you can rest in peace. Today we really certainly tried to do our very best, but we weren’t efficient enough against a team that is very well organised and we got punished because of our own mistakes as well."

That obsession with efficiency is one of the main reasons the mistakes are creeping in. Everyone in the Arsenal squad seems to be on tenterhooks at a time when enjoyment and freedom of expression should be the first orders of the day due to their commanding position in the table.

Arsenal have finished as runners-up in each of the last three seasons, a painful fact that skipper Martin Odegaard admits is in the back of the players' minds.

"Obviously it is a factor,” he said after the United game. "But it can be a good factor as well. It gives you more fuel and more hunger and determination to get it done. We have experienced in all those seasons that it is a long run and a lot of things happen. Be together now. Look for the next game and bounce back."

Odegaard helped the Gunners do exactly that in the Champions League on Wednesday, as they beat Kairat Almaty 3-2 to complete a perfect record in the league phase. That, though, was a meaningless fixture against the club that finished rock bottom, and so the real test of Arsenal's "hunger" will come at Elland Road. After a run of two draws and a defeat in their last three Premier League games, the margin for error is all but gone.

The back-to-back stalemates at home to Arne Slot's declining Liverpool and away at relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest should have rung alarm bells for Arteta, who was made to pay for not having a Plan B. Arsenal have more than enough firepower to blow those teams away, but they never got out of second gear, and it was the same story against United as Arteta prioritised control over fluidity.

Arteta is clearly plagued by doubt and anxiety, knowing full well he could come under pressure if Arsenal again fail to win a major trophy. One FA Cup in six years is not nearly enough to qualify the Spaniard as an elite manager, and there can be no more excuses after a £250 million ($345m) summer splurge on new players. 

The Gunners should be waltzing away with the title this time around, given the gulf in overall quality between them and their main rivals. Manchester City are still a shadow of the team that lifted the trophy for four years in a row between 2021-24, defending champions Liverpool are already out of the race, and Unai Emery's limited Aston Villa surely won't be able to keep punching above their weight through until May, while United and Chelsea have to be near flawless from now on to enter the picture.

There is no other squad in Europe as stacked in every position as Arsenal's. They should fear no one, and the atmosphere at the Emirates should be full of electricity and excitement. But instead, there is a sense of dread, particularly in the biggest games. 

In seven games against the so-called 'big six' this term, Arsenal have only won twice, and the first of those, a 1-0 win away at United, was extremely fortunate, as they edged it via a set-piece after only managing seven shots to the hosts' 17. It felt like Arteta was concentrating on avoiding defeat in draws with Chelsea and Liverpool, while Arsenal didn't show nearly enough creativity or urgency to break down a retreating City side in their 1-1 stalemate at the Emirates.

Arteta's pursuit of marginal gains has come at the expense of his frontline. Viktor Gyokeres, the £64m ($88m) summer signing who scored 54 times for Sporting CP last season, has gone 11 league games without a goal from open play. Bukayo Saka hasn't found the net in any competition for 13 games, and Gabriel Martinelli is enduring a barren spell of the same length in the league. Noni Madueke's last Premier League goal came in January last year, when he was still on Chelsea's books, while Leandro Trossard has one goal in his last 11 appearances.

The welcome return to full fitness of Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz has come as a major boost, but it won't matter much if Arteta continues to be so conservative. Arsenal have become the exact opposite of the irresistible outfit that led the table for 248 days in 2022-23. They eventually ran out of steam, but Jesus, Martinelli, Saka and Odegaard shared 55 goals between them that season. It would be a surprise if any of them break the 10-goal barrier in the league this time around.

How much, then, have Arsenal really progressed as a collective in the last three years? Sure, they're more durable and much better at winning ugly, but innovation has been replaced by desperation. The Gunners' philosophy used to centre around dominating possession and playing rapid, intricate passes to open teams up; now the aim is just to funnel the ball wide, and try to draw a foul or a ricochet that forces a set-piece.

Is it any wonder that the supporters are so on edge when the entertainment value has fallen so far? Arsenal's title surge has become a gruelling endurance exercise, and the mood will turn toxic if there are still no tangible rewards by the end of it.

There is a danger that ghosts from failed title bids in the Arsene Wenger era could also emerge this weekend. Leeds have stopped Arsenal in their tracks twice before, firstly way back in May 1999, when Wenger's men were top of the table and targeting a sixth successive league win after arriving at Elland Road on a warm Tuesday evening for their penultimate game of the campaign.

The defending champions ended up losing 1-0, though, courtesy of a late diving header from Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink, and ultimately relinquished their crown to Manchester United by a single point. That was, however, an excusable away defeat against a Leeds team who finished fourth themselves. Four years later, the picture was very different.

Leeds were in danger of the drop when they travelled to Highbury on May 4, 2003, while Arsenal needed a victory to stop United from winning the title. The home side were overwhelming favourites, but found themselves a goal down after just five minutes, with Harry Kewell scoring a sensational half-volley that stunned the Gunners crowd into silence.

Arsenal fought back in a thrilling end to end contest that was poised at 2-2 with only two minutes remaining, as Thierry Henry, Ian Harte and Dennis Bergkamp also got on the scoresheet. But Mark Viduka had the last word, the stocky Australian picking up the ball wide on the right before eluding Oleh Luzhnyi with a slick Cruyff turn before curling the ball into the top corner past a helpless David Seaman, sparking delirium in the away end.

Leeds held on for a famous victory that preserved their Premier League status, while United clinched the trophy with two fixtures remaining. Although the two teams' latest meeting will come far earlier in the campaign, it's possible that current Leeds boss Daniel Farke may have shown his players videos of both games for extra motivation this week.

In the first half of Wenger's reign at Arsenal, he raised expectations and consistently met them. Arteta has also done the first part, but now it's time to deliver. That means letting go of all of the demons and grabbing the bull by its horns. 

Too often this season we've seen Arsenal's star players throwing their hands up in frustration when things have gone wrong as if the world's against them, case in point being Declan Rice's recent X-rated outburst at Nottingham Forest. But they will only have themselves to blame if the trophy drought goes on.

Arteta has also inadvertently fostered that 'woe-is-me' attitude by demanding everyone get on board with his new vision, with physical exertion and discipline coming ahead of aesthetically pleasing football. The mavericks and former match-winners in the team have been stifled and are therefore no longer playing with smiles on their faces.

Arsenal are efficient, but also mechanical and uninspiring. Letting the shackles off is exactly what is needed to lift the crippling tension in the dressing room, and Arteta must start at Elland Road.