For all of Arsenal’s offensive talent and youthful exuberance, they will always lack defensive cover, which could cost them.
And after a complete capitulation against their North London rivals, this could very well be a game in which they lose control of fourth place.
Kieran Tierney’s absence since early March due to a knee injury has caused havoc in the backline with no real left-back replacement.
Nuno Tavares - a natural left-back - has proven he can’t be trusted in big matches, which is why in this case Mikel Arteta played right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu in that role.
Cédric Soares - again not Arsenal’s first right-back - entered the field, while Rob Holding remained at centre-back and Ben White was only good enough to take a place on the bench.
In the end, your weaknesses catch up with you, and here it is with the Gunners in spectacularly disastrous style thanks to Cedric and Holding.
This was not a Tottenham dugout master class by Antonio Conte, but a group of Arsenal players doing their best to throw away a result.
Cedric’s futile push on Son Heung-min in the box gave Tottenham and Harry Kane a 22-minute 12-yard goal after Arteta’s men really got off to a strong start.
And then Holding. The Englishman has been a solid asset to Arteta this season, showing up when games were due and even scoring his first goal against West Ham.
But here, in the heat of battle and in Arsenal’s most important game in years, he completely lost his head. The word to describe it is “mindless”.
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Holding clearly had a task to keep Son from turning on the counterattack, but he went too far with two clear fouls before finally being cautioned in the 26th minute.
Seven minutes later, he decided to elbow the rushing Son in the face. The fact that he was shocked by Paul Tierney’s decision speaks for itself.
Holding has previously spoken about how he is enjoying the current competition at centre-back with Arsenal, especially with the return of William Saliba from loan in the summer.
But if the club doesn’t finish in the top four now - just one point ahead of Tottenham with two games to go - it’s hard to imagine Arteta ever trusting him again.
Arteta’s grim face spoke for itself when Son pulled out even less than a minute into the second half after a more erratic and desperate defense.
The only positive is that White will return for their now critical visit to Newcastle, where anything but a win could see Spurs jump above them.
More negative moments followed later, when Gabriel hobbled around for what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Whatever happens now, if Arsenal end up playing in the Champions League or Europa League next season, Arteta knows where he needs to improve to avoid a similar collapse in the future.
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