Too little, too late? Arsenal show champions spirit but title hopes hanging by a thread

In normal circumstances, coming from three goals down with 20 minutes to go would be seen as a triumph, even for a team of Arsenal's standards. But following recent defeats, Arsene Wenger did not need another slip-up.

A cold evening on the south coast with less than 48 hours rest certainly did no favours for an Arsenal side who almost lived up to their billing of imploding when it matters most. For so long the masters of self-desturction, it seemed for 70 minutes that they would give their slim title dreams up without so much as a whimper.

In what is likely to be the toughest of their fixtures this month, with games against Swansea, Burnley and Watford yet to come in January, Arsenal’s abject first half performance was summed up when Hector Bellerin was easily beaten by Charlie Daniels in the 16th minute, before the Englishman cut inside and finished past Petr Cech.

A penalty was conceded just four minutes later after Granit Xhaka hauled down Ryan Fraser in the box, with Callum Wilson scoring his second successive spot-kick against the Gunners after netting in the reverse fixture in north London. Arsenal ended a torrid opening period without a shot on target and without Francis Coquelin, who hobbled off with a suspected hamstring injury just as Mohamed Elneny had jetted off to the African Cup of Nations.

The reintroduction of Shkodran Mustafi, a player who has still yet to experience defeat as an Arsenal player, didn’t make the positive impact Wenger would have hoped for, although inspired second half substitutions from the Frenchman did rescue his team from the brink in the end.

That was only after Bellerin was again left for dead - this time by Fraser - before Cech allowed the Scot's low effort to squeeze through his legs. The Arsenal of old would have simply wilted and allowed the walkover to continue.

But this Gunners squad do seem to have the characted that previous Wenger incarnations have lacked. Alexis Sanchez headed in the first on 70 minutes and five minutes later a supreme strike from Lucas Perez put Arsenal within touching distance of getting something from the game.

Deep into the second minute of stoppage time a header from Olivier Giroud salvaged a point for a side whose first half performance was Arsenal's worst of the campaign, but the spirit shown in the second was quite spectacular.

But for all their celebrations following Giroud's equaliser, could their title hopes now be over? A Tottenham victory over Chelsea tomorrow may provide more of an indicator to that question.