Arsenal are on the verge of their seventh season without a trophy after slumping out of the FA Cup with a woeful 2-0 fifth round defeat at Sunderland on Saturday.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger cut a dejected figure as a miserable week, which featured a 4-0 mauling at AC Milan in the Champions League, reached a suitably downbeat conclusion at the Stadium of Light.
Kieran Richardson put Sunderland ahead just before half-time with a deflected strike and a late own goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain effectively condemned the north London club to yet another season without a trophy.
Their hopes of advancing in the Champions League look over barring a miracle second leg against Milan and, with any dreams of challenging for the Premier League title long since abandoned, the only target left for Wenger is securing a top-four finish in the league.
This result that will only add to speculation about the long-term futures of Wenger and his captain Robin van Persie, who must be growing increasingly weary of dispiriting days like this.
A bitterly cold evening in the north east of England, an inadequate pitch and a lacklustre performance by Arsenal were undoubtedly ingredients to prompts thought of Spanish sunshine in the mind of van Persie, who has been linked with Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Little also went right for Wenger, who had to alter his plans because of an injury to Francis Coquelin after only 10 minutes and also saw Arsenal denied a penalty that would have given them a first-half lead.
This was a firecely-contested tie between two teams desperate to make FA Cup progress and that desire was particularly reflected in the opening stages when Lee Cattermole, Sunderland's abrasive captain, annoyed Wenger with two unpunished challenges.
In such a frenzied atmosphere, chances were at a premium and 28 minutes had elapsed before the first clear-cut opportunity, created almost inevitably by van Persie.
His nicely-judged through ball found Gervinho, whose angled shot was turned over by the Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Wenger was again unhappy - with some justification - when a penalty appeal was turned down as John O'Shea brought down van Persie - and his misery deepened when Sunderland went ahead in the 40th minute.
A long period of control from Arsenal ended when Thomas Vermaelen headed a free-kick straight to Richardson, who returned it with interest with an angled shot that took a deflection off substitute Sebastien Squillaci.
And there could have been a second for Sunderland three minutes later when James McClean couldn't hit the target from close range after Jack Colback played the ball into his path.
Wenger's half-time words had little impact, with the pattern unchanged.
Sunderland looked the likelier scorers and went close again when Sebastien Larsson's 48th minute free-kick dipped just over the bar and, five minutes, Wenger decided it was time to act.
Theo Walcott replaced Squillaci, a tenth minute replacement for Coquelin and Tomas Rosicky went on for Aaron Ramsey.
They were also collecting yellow cards on a regular basis, indicating their increasingly desperate attempts to get back in the match by any means.
Indeed, Arsenal looked to have run out of ideas by the time Sunderland finished them off with their second goal after 78 minutes.
Stephane Sessegnon's incisive break ended with a pass to Larsson, whose shot came back off the post before hitting Oxlade-Chamberlain and edging over the line.
It was a scruffy goal that summed up Arsenal's miserable match.