I’m still struggling to understand how Chelsea lost 40 million pounds last year.

Because in that perplexing financial report lie the seeds to Monday’s failure against the Arsenal. And perhaps the seeds to a slump that could last for several seasons.

It’s the lack of money that made the so-so Ramires Ancelotti’s top sub. It’s the lack of money that made 19 year-old Gael Kakuta his second sub. It’s the lack of money that made a still-slow Bosingwa, who hasn’t recovered his pace since a serious knee injury, his third ineffective sub.

In fact, it’s the general aging of the squad and an alarming lack of pace that dictated the one-sided score-line at the Emirates.

Sleepy play on defense by Essien, Cole and Malouda contributed mightily, of course. But even without those gifted goals, Arsenal always looked like the more dangerous team. It’s not that they dominated possession. You expect that. It’s that Chelsea’s breakaway game never seemed to have teeth. They couldn’t capitalize on the space you can count on having against Arsenal.

I hate to harp on it, but the slow players vastly outnumbered the swift ones in Chelsea’s lineup. Only Kalou, in for the injured Anelka, and Ashley Cole have true pace. Malouda’s lost a step and so has Drogba.

And so Chelsea now lie in fourth place, 6 points behind Manchester United and just a single point ahead of Spurs for the final Champions League spot. Worse, United’s 6 point lead is likely to be a 9 point lead after their postponed trip to Blackpool. You can’t blame people for saying that in losing to Arsenal, Chelsea have also lost their EPL season.

So where do we look for anything positive out of this dismal result?

Well, it’s a topy-turvy Premier League that’s down on talent. There’s no reason why Arsenal or Manchester United couldn’t have a bad patch themselves. Lampard wasn’t bad and can be expected to get better. I remain convinced that malaria is weakening Drogba and that he has better games left in him.

So it may be too early to write-off Chelsea’s campaign. With half a season left to play, there’s plenty of drama left. We hope. But then I look at that 40 million pound deficit, incurred without the expense of a big name transfer (just 18 million for Zhirkov) and I worry that UEFA’s Fair Play means the money’s no longer there to fix this squad.

At least we only have a day to wait for Wednesday’s home game to Bolton. Maybe then we can finally savour three points, the first since the 10th of November.