After blowing a two-goal lead to draw against the Premier League's bottom club Wolves, there will be no dodging the questions on whether Arsenal are mentally ready to end their 22-year wait to become champions.
For the first time really this season, the title race is not completely in the control of Mikel Arteta and his players.
If Manchester City - five points behind in second place - win all of their remaining 12 games, which includes a home meeting against Arsenal, they will finish first.
Arteta's side will be crowned champions if they win the rest of their matches, including the one at the Etihad, but he knows they will come under fire and scrutiny.
"Any opinion, you have to take it on the chin," he said. "Any bullet, take it, because we didn't perform at the level required.
"Anything anyone says can be right because we didn't do what we had to do. The way to do it is on the pitch on Sunday [against Spurs].
"Extremely disappointed obviously with the result and with the way the game ended but we have to blame ourselves."
Only Crystal Palace and West Ham (both eight) have dropped more points from winning positions in the league in 2026 than Arsenal (seven) and the Gunners have now failed to win from a leading position in three of their past five league games.
This was also the first time in Premier League history that a side starting the day bottom of the table avoided defeat to the leaders despite trailing by two or more goals.
The result also meant Arsenal failed to win an away league game in which they had a two-goal lead for the first time since April 2023 at West Ham, stretching back 18 matches.
With a north London derby to follow at Tottenham on Sunday, Arsenal have to respond quickly.
Spurs will have Igor Tudor at the helm and they will hope he can give them the "new manager bounce" to add to the Gunners' misery.
Arteta admitted: "We need to go through the pain, looking in the mirror and understand what the game requires now on Sunday.
"Anything we say from here is fine but we need to keep it all in our tummies and show it on Sunday."