The Warm-Up: Arsene Wenger endgame approaches as Arsenal unravel

Tottenham Hotspur need to wake up. Five days after pulling the plug on their own title challenge at Anfield, they risked doing the same in the Europa League this evening. Spurs lost 1-0 to a KAA Gent side who, as Liverpool did on Saturday, out-did them for energy, speed and drive - precisely the qualities this team are meant to have so much of. Spurs players have been speaking all season about the importance of finally winning a trophy this year, which is why Pochettino was let down by their lack of desire when they lost at Liverpool. The Europa League is winnable, there are few teams better than Spurs in it. And yet when called upon to produce under pressure here, against a motivated but modest team, Spurs went flat.

They've spoke more tonight than I have to any of my brothers in the last five years. It's all a bit strange. I think when the game started they were focused on the game. But all this stuff before and after the game, a lot of nonsense - but that's the modern player I'm afraid.

Stop all the clock ends, cut off the zip on that quilted coat. Arsene Wenger heads towards the exit at the Emirates Stadium, and rightly so, belatedly so after overseeing such a long, damaging, mortifying decline. Many Arsenal fans will breathe a sigh of relief at the manager’s departure and rejoice at the prospect of new blood, ideas and impetus but the dethroning of a club legend is also touched with sorrow. This is why Wenger has to announce as spring looms that he will leave in the summer. Only then can the 67-year-old enjoy a more decorous farewell, preventing the atmosphere at the Emirates from becoming even more noxious, reuniting a footballing family torn asunder and giving the board a couple of months to prepare for the most important decision it will ever take.