Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus has implored the Gunners to "wake up" after they dropped points in the Premier League for just the second time this season against Southampton.
The Gunners flew out of the blocks at St Mary's Stadium as they sought to re-establish their four-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table, and Granit Xhaka gave them the perfect start.
The Switzerland captain scored his second right-footed goal for the club in a matter of days with his well-taken finish from Ben White's cross, but Arsenal could not build on that early advantage.
Jesus in particular missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, and Southampton were deservedly level on the 65-minute mark when Stuart Armstrong stole in to slot home.
Arsenal remain at the summit after that 1-1 draw, but their lead over champions Man City has now been cut to two points, and Jesus does not want to use the unforgiving October schedule as an excuse for his side's apparent fatigue in the second half.
"Sometimes you drop a little bit, but you have to realise and wake up, that's what we have to do," the Evening Standard quotes Jesus as saying after the match.
"We have to concentrate more, focus more, be more aggressive with the ball, without the ball. I think everyone has the same games. We are trying to do our best to win the games, to win them as much as possible before the World Cup.
"We have to turn our minds and come back playing our game. Of course up front me, B (Bukayo Saka), Gabi [Martinelli] and everyone try to put the ball in the net. Now is the time, you know everyone is going to talk about us, about our performance, I just want to say to the team to be calm.
"This league is tough, it's difficult. Everyone is upset. Now is a difficult time I think, the difficult time is coming. Everyone has to be alert and then focus more."
Having starred upon his arrival in North London from Manchester City, Jesus has now endured a bit of a sticky patch in red and white, going without a goal in his last five games in all tournaments.
Controversial decisions from referee Robert Jones did not help the 25-year-old, as Arsenal had a couple of penalty shouts waved away on the day, and he has admitted that his lack of recent strikes "hurts".
When asked to pinpoint a specific reason for his lack of ruthlessness at St Mary's, Jesus responded: "I don't know, I really don't know. If I know I can tell you!
"But the only thing I can do is keep trying, keep fighting, keep improving. Like I said, I am here to score goals, I am here to help the team with the goals. I understand that. Of course, the goals are coming back soon.
"We are young and I am still young as well. So we have to be more focused sometimes. We created a lot today but we were not finishing good.
"I put me in that of course, because I had some chances today. I could have scored one or two - and then we win the game. It's hard, it's difficult, it hurts, but we have to realise and wake up and improve and come back."
Jesus has still posted a respectable five goals and five assists from his first 14 games in an Arsenal jersey, while Xhaka now has four goals and three assists from 15 outings this term.
Mikel Arteta's side will aim to return to winning ways when they tackle PSV Eindhoven in Thursday's Europa League Group A clash, and a point at the Philips Stadion would guarantee the North London club a first-placed finish and a spot in the last 16.
Following their trip to the Netherlands, Arsenal resume Premier League duties with the visit of Nottingham Forest to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
