Arsenal's Title Challenge Surely Done and Dusted After West Ham Draw

In the run-up to this final London derby at the Boleyn Ground, the noises coming out of Arsenal suggested the Gunners believed they were still part of the battle for the Premier League title.

After letting a two-goal lead slip to draw 3-3 with West Ham United, only the most fanatical of supporters will refuse to admit they’re out of the race.

This result means Leicester City need just nine points from their remaining six games to guarantee finishing above Arsenal—and that’s if the Gunners win every one of their remaining games. Given the defensive frailties on show in east London, that looks hugely unlikely.

For a long time, it looked as if this might be a day when Arsenal ramped up the pressure on the two teams ahead of them, the other being Tottenham Hotspur. After 43 minutes, the Gunners were two goals to the good. Teenager Alex Iwobi was at the heart of an impressive performance, providing two assists for Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.

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However, the Gunners then produced a customary collapse, somehow managing to concede twice in the few minutes before half-time. What will have been most frustrating for manager Arsene Wenger was the simplicity of the goals they conceded.

Speaking to the media after the match, Wenger admitted: “If you look at the goals we have conceded since the start of the season, [most of them] are headers in our box. That happened today.”

West Ham had obviously noticed that weakness and sought to exploit it by reintroducing Andy Carroll into their starting XI. 

The results were spectacular—Carroll grabbed a hat-trick and was the game’s star performer. A more stringent referee the Craig Pawson might have dismissed him after a series of reckless fouls, but having been fortunate enough to remain on the field, there can be no denying his impact.

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Had Wenger anticipated Carroll might play, perhaps he would have brought Petr Cech into the side instead of David Ospina. The Colombian earned a start after two consecutive clean sheets, but given his propensity to stay on his line—or sometimes, as was the case for West Ham’s third goal, inexplicably behind it—perhaps it would have been better to have started with the aerially dominant Cech instead.

After squandering their two-goal advantage to fall 3-2 behind, Arsenal did muster an equaliser through Laurent Koscielny. However, there will be little satisfaction taken from the draw. This was undoubtedly two points dropped.

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At his post-match press conference, a member of the press asked Wenger where the result leaves the Gunners. He responded:

"

Third in the league with 59 points. That is not where we want to be but we have made it much more difficult for ourselves now to have a chance to win the Premier League. We have to keep going no matter what and hope. You never know what can happen. As well, we have to look behind us as people are chasing us.

We have to be serious and focus on finishing as high as possible. Where that is, I don’t know. This is one of the places where you could drop points but you see the game and feel guilty you have dropped points.

"

Arsenal are right to feel guilty. From a comfortable position, they somehow conspired to throw the game away. Looking on from afar, fans of Leicester City and Tottenham would have been delighted. Arsenal showed exactly why they won’t finish this season as champions.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.