Whether it is the end of an era only time will tell but as of 6pm yesterday, Tottenham were the best team in London, with scant evidence Arsenal have the wit to address that problem, in the short term at least.

Time to get out the calculators, both in the saloon bar where the potential remaining points haul will be perused and, perhaps, up in the boardroom, where the cost of playing next season without Champions League football will have to be added up.

The team, who once swept dazzlingly through each season so confident they were worth their place in Europe’s elite competition that they used to book Wembley in advance for home fixtures – and then built a new stadium for them – now have their fingers crossed.

The reason is a very mundane but damaging one. And, for once, last night, Arsene Wenger did not attempt to disguise with fine words that his side were beaten because of their bad defending. “We lost the game when we were on top of it,” he said, forced to concede that Tottenham had been more or less invited to score their two goals inside three minutes nearing half-time. “It is very frustrating. Every time we give ourselves a mountain to climb.”

Arsene Wenger: We were not efficient in the zones where it mattered

Often, Arsene Wenger has a tendency, in public at least, to explain away defeats with fine phrases and complex theorising. He did veer at one point last night into Wenger-speak. But this time, the obvious was too obvious and, in his inimitable way, he summed it all up precisely.

“We were not efficient in the zones where it mattered – at the front and at the back.” Meaning, the utterly ineffective Olivier Giroud once again didn’t have a sniff or hardly won a ball in the air.

Also, that Gareth Bale, in his current ravenous mood, should not have been allowed to scurry unmolested on to the kind of smart, defence-splitting passes Gylfi Sigurdsson came up with in the 37th minute to turn the game on its head. And, meaning, most certainly, that Scott Parker should not have been permitted to thrust his way forward to set up Aaron Lennon equally incisively two minutes later.

Lennon got beyond Nacho Monreal and Per Mertesacker unchallenged. Wenger pointed out that Arsenal had the best defensive record away from home in the Premier League but still there was a worrying familiarity about the way all this happened. He also said that the task of qualifying for the Champions League is now “a massive one.” No room for verbal manoeuvring anymore, is there?

They say the men who run the Emirates have already budgeted for that eventuality. And that, according to those supporters who have become increasingly disgruntled with the club’s drift away from the elite level of English football, is precisely the problem.

There has been too much budgeting and not enough boldness, the rebels among the faithful of London N5 claim. True enough, it still did not feel yesterday that the balance of power shifted irrevocably to the northern end of the Seven Sisters Road. But it was plainly apparent why Tottenham won and Arsenal didn’t – and the reasons looked structural.

The big, painful reality Wenger had to face was that they played better than they have for some time and still lost. Spurs had more strength and conviction even though they had to fight for long periods. They were more dynamic and direct and had more depth about their squad. Wenger’s team belied the idea that they lack the character for a fight, but most of it took place ineffectively in the middle of the pitch while they were unable to seriously threaten in attack.

Their looming fixtures may offer them some succour. It includes Reading, West Brom, Norwich and Fulham before they face Manchester United at home in late April. Their apparently doomed trip to Bayern Munich next up looks like a nuisance now. What an irony. A trip to Europe could hamper the attempt to qualify for the Champions League for next season.

Things most certainly are not as straightforward as they once were for Arsenal or their manager.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal match Stats

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Dembele (Livermore 87), Parker, Lennon (Gallas 90), Bale, Sigurdsson, Adebayor (Defoe 66).

Subs not used: Friedel, Naughton, Holtby, Carroll.

Goals: Bale 37, Lennon 39.

Booked: Vertonghen, Adebayor, Walker.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Jenkinson (Rosicky 60), Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Monreal, Ramsey, Arteta (Podolski 77), Walcott, Wilshere, Cazorla, Giroud.

Subs not used: Mannone, Koscielny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Gervinho.

Goals: Mertesacker 51.

Booked: Ramsey.

Attendance: 36,170.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).

Arsene Wenger Video