The truth is that Arsenal have not looked like genuine title challengers for a good couple of months now. Even their excellent start here was attributable more to Fulham's defensive lapses than to exceptional penetration. Olivier Giroud headed home Theo Walcott's corner after giving Aaron Hughes the slip, before Mikel Arteta seized on John Arne Riise's skewed clearance and slid the ball over for Lukas Podolski to convert.
Meanwhile, the old frailties at the back remained in place. Berbatov and Bryan Ruiz did not take long to discover them. Gone are the days when smaller teams came to the Emirates and celebrated a point. Fulham manager Martin Jol left wanting more.
"We weren't lucky," he said. "We showed our quality, and we kept believing in it. We could have won easily."
Berbatov and Ruiz are fast becoming one of the most effective forward partnerships in the Premier League. In a way, they make an odd couple – quiet and idiosyncratic away from the pitch, not renowned for their ferocious work rate off it – but with the ball at their feet, they are developing a deep, destructive understanding.
Ruiz's corner was headed home by Berbatov for Fulham's first goal, while Berbatov's cross for Alex Kacaniklic created the second. The penalty that put Fulham ahead followed a canny slice of opportunism by Ruiz, robbing Arteta of the ball and then going down under the Spaniard's challenge.
Neither Ruiz nor Berbatov, Jol argued, deserved their reputation for sloth.
"No, they are not lazy," he insisted. "Look at the stats of Bryan Ruiz – he covers more ground than any other player. In Holland he had 12 or 14 assists and 24 goals and was, not even arguably, the best player in Holland.
"What do you want? A player without quality who works hard? Or a quality player who hopefully works hard?"
One player who Arsenal hope will emulate Berbatov's success in the Premier League is Olivier Giroud, who is finally delivering on his potential after an uncertain start. It was his second goal – another headed effort – that dragged Arsenal level just two minutes after going behind. The travails of the £12 million striker could be an analogue for Arsenal's current troubles.
"When I didn't score at the beginning of the season, I stayed confident, and I always worked on my mind and my game," he said.
"It's a bad run but there is a lot of quality in this team. We will have better days ahead. That's why we have to show solidarity at this moment, not to say 'yes, it's your mistake'. We have to stick together."
Arteta's missed penalty, the last kick of the game after the referee, Phil Dowd, felt that Andrei Arshavin's cross came off Sascha Riether's arm, might have put an undeserved gloss on Arsenal's troubles. As it is, the lack of belief is one area that Wenger will want to address over the coming days, as well as the mounting problems at the back. But now most of his squad will disappear for international duty.
"We have no time to train on it, because the players go away, and when you play every three days you cannot practise too much," he complained.
"At the moment we cannot rotate too much, so it's not ideal. I would prefer that the team stays here, and prepares our next game."
Time is not on Wenger's side at the moment, and in more ways than one.
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