Arsenal 1 Middlesbrough 1: Wenger in anguish as his world turns flat

Sometimes the game is up and, after this result, Arsène Wenger did not even attempt to conceal his sense of crushing disappointment. Did the draw against Middlesbrough feel like a defeat? "Yes," said the Arsenal manager without a moment's hesitation. How low were the players afterwards? "It's the flattest I have seen them after a game," said Wenger, who appeared to be pretty "flat" himself, before qualifying that by adding the atmosphere following Eduardo's horrific leg break against Birmingham had been low as well.

Arsenal drew that game and have now drawn against Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic and Boro, which is a sequence, that has, it feels, fatally damaged their chances of winning the Premier League. That statement appears faintly ludicrous given that they only trail Manchester United on goal difference and can hole Chelsea's challenge if they win at Stamford Bridge next Sunday, although Wenger admitted there was now a "fraction less belief" among his squad.

Eight points have been frustratingly discarded in four games and momentum has switched. The Eduardo injury has weighed heavy. "We dropped two unbelievable points at Birmingham," Wenger complained, "and that has maybe had consequences on our Premier League form. But you have to deal with it and I don't believe it's a good enough explanation. Wigan was just after the Champions League, Aston Villa are a difficult team and we gave everything against Middlesbrough but we were not creative enough."

Not creative enough and not good enough. Throughout, the air of frustration was palpable, the fuses of the fans short and the target of their ire, Mark Halsey, the referee, misplaced even if he wrongly disallowed an early Emmanuel Adebayor strike for offside. But there was no bias from the official and, although Wenger claimed the "decisions didn't go for us", it was a half-hearted moan and one that ignored the fact that George Boateng, the game's outstanding player, had been fouled in the build-up to Arsenal's equaliser.

The feeling persists with this Arsenal squad that as talented and exciting as they can be, as pure and inventive their football, they are spread a little thin. Wenger is sitting on a mountain of cash that has been generated by the successful move to the Emirates and is not going to spend it. Instead he wants to organically grow a team and as admirable as that is, there are times when a little help is required. It may sound glib but plant a striker such as Fernando Torres into this line-up and the title race could already be over, especially as Robin van Persie, out for so long, appeared well short of match sharpness.

Boro were organised, resilient and threatened at times, coming mightily close to achieving their first league double over Arsenal in 70 years. In doing so they helped heal the wounds of their embarrassing FA Cup quarter-final exit to Cardiff City that Gareth Southgate, the manager, said would be "difficult to repair" and had left him "in the depths of despair" and the club little more than a "laughing stock". The immutable law of the ex – facing Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink – had worked against them the previous weekend but it helped them this.

Southgate recalled Jérémie Aliadière who had spent nine years at Arsenal, scoring just one Premier League goal, but he needed just 25 minutes to score against his former club. It was a simple move but owed much to Southgate's decision to play with two strikers, and William Gallas's choice of appealing for offside instead of getting closer to Aliadière before he turned in Tuncay Sanli's cross.

Emmanuel Eboué bounced a centre of his own off the crossbar, while Cesc Fabregas was thwarted by Mark Schwarzer when clean through and Gallas sent a free header over. Finally, Kolo Touré reached a Fabregas corner and, with Mathieu Flamini and Andrew Taylor, the Boro substitute, in Schwarzer's way, the ball cannoned into the net. Mido's late dismissal, for kicking Gaël Clichy on the head, made no difference. "It will be very interesting on Sunday because we go to Chelsea, and Manchester United play Liverpool as well so we will have a better idea that night as to what will happen until the end of the season," Wenger said of the next fixture. The suspicion is, however, that he may not like the answer.

Goals: Aliadiere (25) 1-0; Touré (86) 1-1.

Arsenal (4-4-2): Almunia; Sagna (Bendtner, 61), Touré, Gallas, Clichy (Senderos, 89); Eboue, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb; Van Persie (Walcott, 61), Adebayor. Substitutes not used: Lehmann (gk), Gilberto.

Middlesbrough (4-4-2): Schwarzer; Young, Huth, Wheater, Pogatetz; O'Neil, Shawky (Cattermole, h-t), Boateng, Downing; Tuncay (Taylor, 68), Aliadiere (Mido, 78). Substitutes not used: Turnbull (gk), Arca.

Booked: Arsenal: Eboue. Middlesbrough: Wheater, O'Neil.

Sent off: Mido (88).

Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).

Man of the match: Boateng.

Attendance: 60,084