FanView: Arsenal Players Keep Apologising Online But Are Not Actually Stepping Up Their Game

Arsenal pair Jack Wilshere and Petr Cech both publicly apologised to Gunners fans via social media on Sunday following the latest poor result for the club after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Brighton.

Arsenal have now lost all of their last four games in all competitions and have only won four times since the turn of the calendar year, a truly dismal run of form over a period of 10 weeks.

Taking to Twitter after the Brighton defeat, Wilshere acknowledged that supporters 'deserve better' and urged them to 'stick with' the team.

The home-grown midfielder, who may or may not still be with the club next season in light of his expiring contract, was slated just a week earlier after he appeared to blame the club's defeat in the Carabao Cup final on poor refereeing.

"And people will say we are looking for excuses but these are facts. Anyway we need to respond, starting on Thursday," Wilshere had tweeted after that game.

Cech, meanwhile, took responsibility for the two Brighton goals that he conceded, lamenting that the 'damage was done' before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled one back. At this point it is worth mentioning that Arsenal had the whole of the second half to find an equaliser and didn't.

Arsenal players apologising to fans on social media is actually becoming a common sight.

Mohamed Elneny responded to the viral image of a young Arsenal fan crying at the Carabao Cup final after watching the team get torn apart by Manchester City.

"Listen, your tears are so precious for all of us. For the sake of you and the sake of all the gunners’ fans I promise you to fight to draw the smile on your face," the Egyptian midfielder said.

That 'fight' was noticeably lacking when Arsenal faced the same opposition just a few days later at home in the Premier League and were beaten by the same 3-0 score-line, having been played off the field in the first half hour. It was also missing at Brighton.

After an embarrassing 4-0 defeat against Liverpool back in August, Mesut Ozil, who has been practically invisible since recently signing his new bumper contract, apologised on Instagram.

"We wanted to achieve a positive result before the international break but we were simply not good enough during the 90 minutes and Liverpool deserved the win without a doubt ... Gunners, I'm sorry - especially for the fans who travelled all the way up to Liverpool to see us fighting."

It's all well and good acknowledging when results are poor and promising to 'fight' to fix it. But how long before Gunners players actually step up and make good on those pledges?

Arsenal remain sixth in the Premier League standings and are closer to seventh place Burnley than they are to fifth place Chelsea. The gap to the top four and all-important Champions League qualification is now an enormous 13 points and Arsene Wenger has conceded the fight.

"I think that [fourth place] had already gone. Mathematically, with five teams in front of us, you need two to collapse. With such a number of games to go it's very difficult to think it will happen," the under fire Frenchman said.