‘Trust the process’: Ozil laments Arsenal woes after Man City forget Ronaldo saga to hammer hapless Gunners

Ex-Arsenal star Mesut Ozil has joined fans in expressing his heartbreak after a 5-0 hammering at Man City left them bottom of the Premier League, with the hosts putting their failure to sign Cristiano Ronaldo firmly behind them.

Following losses to Premier League new boys Brentford and London rivals Chelsea, Gunners fans were given false hope by a 6-0 destruction of West Bromich Albion in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

Boss Mikel Arteta's misery continued in the English top flight on Saturday, however, as the defending champions thrashed his side, causing many to call for the beleaguered manager's head.

The visitors trailed 2-0 after just 12 minutes through goals by Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres.

Then, to make matters worse, hothead Granit Xhaka - who was offered a new contract and made captain despite attempts by the club to sell him during the current transfer window - was sent off for a dangerous two-footed lunge.

Claims were made that some traveling Arsenal fans had seen enough and were "leaving after 37 minutes", but the punishment wasn't done yet as Gabriel Jesus - repaying the faith shown in him by Pep Guardiola, who refused to have him part-exchanged for Ronaldo - made it 3-0 before the interval.

At half time, sharpened knives were dug into the woeful underperforming fallen giants by both their supporters and neutral onlookers, calling for Arsenal to "delete club" or "forfeit season" - a reference to the popular FIFA video game.

"Arteta is completely out of his depth in this job. The experiment is over, he needs to be sacked immediately," said one, as a video circulated of another claiming that Arsenal's true rivals now are not the likes of City and Manchester United but relative minnows Brighton.

"Arsenal have spent more in transfer fees than any club in Europe this summer to take a mid-table team backwards," began one post-mortum.

"A complete disaster class in how to run a football club. From players to coaching to recruitment to selling to ownership. Direction-less at every level."

Well-followed accounts trumpeted the farcical fact that the laughing stock have an Amazon All or Nothing series coming out later this season, quipping that its genre has been "filed under comedies rather than documentaries".

Spanish pair Rodri and Torres added further goals to ensure the scoreline ended 5-0. Arsenal are now 270 minutes without a Premier League goal and have finished August trailing 9-0 on aggregate in three matches while still chasing their first win.

Legendary Gunners striker Ian Wright was seen looking downbeat in a television studio after full-time as another ex-Arsenal player, Mesut Ozil, posted "Trust the process" along with a broken heart and crying emoji.

But less kind parties mocked the phrase and went for a string of manic laughing and facepalm counterparts instead while asking: "What f*cking process?"

As for City, they put missing out on Ronaldo behind them with their demolition job on bottom of the league foes to remain near the top of the early table.

Guardiola has claimed he is happy with his squad, and they have shown why he could be right through 10 goals at home in their last two home outings. 

Record signing Jack Grealish put on an impressive display, including an assist for Jesus.