What is the world coming to when Arsenal are toasting a point at home to Southampton?
Especially when Spurs, the team they kicked sand in the faces of for two decades, are competing for the title on half the wage bill and with twice the desire.
The home bench here at the Emirates let out a cheer after hanging on with ten men for the final 28 minutes. But Arteta's Gunners are still knee-deep in a nightmare.
This latest chapter in the club's abysmal run of form leaves them 15th. What do they have to celebrate?
Arsenal's run of 25 home league games unbeaten against Southampton stretching back to November 1987 would have ended had Ralph Hassenhuttl's side not been so scared to go for the jugular.
© Getty ImagesArsenal are 15th - what's to celebrate?
Especially with Theo Walcott revealing afterwards that he smelt fear at his former club.
Walcott returned with a hunger of a man who'd had December 16 earmarked in his diary for quite some time.
Sent clear by Che Adams the former Gunner lifted the ball over the advancing Bernd Leno in the 18th minute.
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Southampton were going the way of Burnley who'd pulled off their first win at the Emirates since 1974 last Sunday. Also Wolves hadn't been victorious in the red half of north London since 1979.
The trouble was, while both those teams had the belief to finish Arteta's side off. Hassenhuttl admitted afterwards to being scared of being caught on the counter.
It allowed Arsenal a way back. Bukayo Saka, one of the few glimmers of hope in the north Londoners' team, glided past three players to slip in Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabon marksman ended his run of just one goal in 12 Premier League matches by curling the ball beyond Alex McCarthy.
Good job too because once Arsenal defender Gabriel was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 62 minute, Arsenal were done as an attacking force.
Arteta threw on David Luiz for Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock for Cedric Suarez. There was no way he could afford to lose here again. Ironically he could have fluked the points when Rob Holding's header hit the bar.
Instead Arsenal are in a mess.
It is hard to vote of confidence your way out of this. Harder still to dismissively wave away an angry fanbase after such a shocking sequence.
It is all very well for Technical Director Edu to wax lyrical about his faith in the man he brought in from Manchester City. He has to.
Failure for Arteta is failure for Edu. It means Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke and his son Josh will surely have to start looking at contingencies in both positions.
If either man has any sense that process will have started already. They only have to look at the fixture list and see Everton away on Saturday followed by games against Manchester City and Chelsea to know that.