"You're getting sacked in the morning…" the Sunderland fans chanted at Arsene Wenger as his hapless team slumped to yet another defeat.

"There's only one Arsene Wenger," the defiant Arsenal fans apparently sang in response, as their team struggled in the FA cup again. I doubt they were singing at the end.

The Gunners, it must be said, were not quite as bad as they had been in midweek against Milan. But, on the other hand, that would have been impossible. The defeat to Milan was the nadir.

Defeat to a Sunderland team who scored two slightly lucky goals was honorable by comparison. Defeat to Birmingham in last season's Carling Cup final was a stunning calamity, yes, but even that wasn't as bad as the Milan game.

Against Arsenal, Zlatan Ibrahimovic looked like one of the best players in the world, just as Dimitar Berbatov did last year when Manchester United put seven goals past Blackburn Rovers.

Never has the team's lack of bottle had such a defining effect. The players aren't nearly as bad as the media is telling us, but Arsenal looked like one of those plucky underdogs that had somehow made it through to the knockout phase only to be put firmly in its place by one of the big boys.

There was more fight in them against Sunderland, but there was the same nervousness, the same ridiculous mistakes under pressure.

Only a week ago, everything was looking so much brighter. Against Sunderland again, but in the Premiership this time, Thierry Henry had scored a fairy tale injury time winner in his last league game for the Gunners before the end of his loan spell. And Arsenal's rivals for fourth place, Liverpool and Chelsea, had both lost.

But now, with the chance of a trophy gone for another season and the team looking more disjointed and lacking in confidence than ever, Arsenal are facing the grim prospect of failure to qualify for next year's Champions League.

So what, you may ask, if all they'll do is get humiliated in the second round yet again? Well, it would make it even harder to entice the big name signings they need to resurrect their fortunes.

Van Persie would have extra reason to leave as well - who could blame him? And with rebuilding made so much harder, would the board really trust Wenger with another year? Should they?

The author is an editor with the Global Times. tomspearman@globaltimes.com.cn