Arsene Wenger warrants blame as same old Arsenal starts to stutter again

Not since 2012 have Arsenal finished top of a Champions League group. It will soon be five attempts and five second-placed finishes, thanks to a 2-2 draw with Paris Saint-Germain which ensures the French club need only to win at home to Ludogorets in the final round of games to come top of Group A.

Football empires have fallen in that time: Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund, Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich. Chelsea alone have had six different managers. But though the currents of change at the top of European football are forever shifting, Arsenal's determination to finish second in their group remains unmoved.

Any Arsenal supporters who hoped this season would see them break out of the club's familiar cycle of disappointment have had cause for sober reappraisal in recent weeks. Regular as clockwork, a difficult November has spread doubts about their credentials for a title challenge and has seemingly left them destined for second place in Europe yet again.

With the groups as they stand, that means meeting one of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Monaco or Benfica. Wenger will not welcome the news that the chances of a seventh straight exit in the round of 16 increased exponentially on Wednesday night with the failure to exert home advantage and beat PSG: the likelihood of reaching the quarterfinals drops from 72 percent to 28 percent with a second-placed finish.

It was not just the mathematical implications of the result, but the performance too. The second half was a riotously entertaining affair for long periods but Arsenal were strangely insipid in the first, continuing on from their disappointing efforts in successive 1-1 draws against Tottenham and Manchester United in the Premier League -- the symptoms of the annual November malaise which afflicts a club stuck in its own traditions.

Both goals, too, were fortunate affairs. There appeared to be minimal contact from Grzegorz Krychowiak when Alexis Sanchez went down in the box to win the penalty from which Olivier Giroud scored, while Marco Verratti did Arsenal's work for them when putting into his own net to give Arsene Wenger's side the most unlikely of leads. Overall, Arsenal had five attempts on goal to PSG's 15.

Something is not quite right at the moment. Wenger characterised recent results as a loss of " winning momentum", though was reluctant to outright admit that his team are "stuttering". However you define the current situation, much of the blame must fall at the manager's door for some questionable selection decisions in recent weeks. On Wednesday night there was scant evidence he got the big calls right.

Giroud was restored to the starting XI, and scored, but his presence as the centre-forward moved Arsenal away from the system which had seemed an upgrade: using Sanchez as a False No.9 in a more fluid formation. A converted penalty does not vindicate the switch.

In midfield, too, there were question marks. Arsenal are desperately struggling to replace the penetration Santi Cazorla gives them but again Granit Xhaka was left on the bench. Aaron Ramsey was better in a central role than he was on the left against United at the weekend, but his partnership with Francis Coquelin wasn't the solution.

The losses of Cazorla and Hector Bellerin have been body blows for Arsenal but Wenger's tinkering around the edges of what had been a successful formation have not helped either. True, an unbeaten run in all competitions stretches back to the defeat to Liverpool on the opening weekend of the season but any nascent promise around the team's prospects this season has been dampened down by that loss of "winning momentum".

The simple truth is that PSG will deserve to top the group if they do secure the expected result against Ludogorets. They are the more intelligent side in possession and more threatening in attack, as proved over both meetings between the two sides, even if they did end in draws. Wenger's team had a big chance on Wednesday night to change the course of their destiny but it was a chance they were unable to take.

Arsenal, it seems, remain a perpetual work in progress when it comes to Europe. All that really remains now is the inevitability of losing to Barcelona in the round of 16.