THERE was a spell in the second half, after Alvaro Negredo had drawn Middlesbrough level, when it looked like Steve Agnew would get to celebrate his first win as head coach.

Instead, after Mesut Ozil struck the winner to keep Arsenal’s fading Champions League hopes alive, it was the much more experienced Arsene Wenger left savouring three important points.

While Wenger, under-fire after a frustrating season which has seen the Gunners drop out of contention for the title, could leave Teesside looking at a seven-point gap to make up to fourth spot, Middlesbrough have just as big a fight on their hands at the other end.

There are just six matches remaining for Agnew to keep Middlesbrough up, and a six point deficit to safety remains. Despite promising signs under his watch and a battling display to hearten supporters, he is still to enjoy a victory from his opening five matches in charge.

The situation Middlesbrough find themselves in deep in the relegation mire is not a result of his spell in charge, and the fact that their winless run in the Premier League has now extended to 15 matches highlights their shortcomings – even if they did score this time.

It was a credit to Boro’s players that they didn’t cave in when Alexis Sanchez curled in a stunning free-kick three minutes before half-time.

In fact Negredo’s ninth goal for the club since moving on loan from Valencia four minutes after the restart threatened to lead to an even more memorable night by the River Tees.

But Ozil struck to push Middlesbrough a little closer to a Championship return, and now Agnew knows his players can’t afford anything other than victories from upcoming games with Bournemouth and Sunderland.

The prospects of Middlesbrough staying up had improved without kicking a ball over the weekend. The defeats for Swansea and Hull had to be followed up by a result against Arsenal to really shake up the relegation fight but that never arrived.

Agnew’s options improved beforehand, with Gaston Ramirez and Fabio da Silva recalled to the starting line-up after injury as part of five changes to the side that started the goalless draw with Burnley.

Fabio’s positive impressions didn’t last long though. George Friend, also back from his own lay-off, was introduced early on because the Brazilian suffered an injury when he simply looked to make a strong tackle.

It was not the sort of start Middlesbrough, without a league win since mid-December, needed, particularly having opened up brightly and contained Arsenal’s advances.

The only time goalkeeper Brad Guzan, back in the side because of a rib injury to Victor Valdes, had a shot in his direction during that spell was when Sanchez was offside anyway.

Middlesbrough on the other hand were more willing to shoot from distance. Negredo’s speculative lob flew over from halfway after spotting Petr Cech off his line, while Grant Leadbitter’s powerful 25-yard drive curled the wrong side of the post.

There were signs with half an hour approaching that Arsenal’s confidence had grown. It started when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain skipped down the line, creating an opportunity for Olivier Giroud to nod into the path of Aaron Ramsey.

The opening goal looked on the cards but Ramsey’s volley, bouncing up off the floor and towards the top corner, was headed away by Antonio Barragan, even if Guzan looked like he was going to gather.

Moments after that Sanchez volleyed into the arms of the American goalkeeper and it looked at that stage as if Arsenal, playing with a three-man defence for the first time in 20 years, had thrashed out the early teething problems with the new system.

Laurent Koscielny was at the centre of that defensive triumvirate and was often in the thick of things when dangerous deliveries were sent into the box from Barragan, Friend, Ramirez or Downing.

And Middlesbrough’s failure to get behind Koscielny and Co during that decent opening proved costly when Adam Clayton conceded a free-kick on the edge of his own penalty area when he wrapped his legs round Granit Xhaka.

Sanchez, with his quality from the dead ball, did the rest. The Chilean curled over the wall from 22 yards with a sublimely taken effort that flew inside a static Guzan’s top right corner.

Having worked so hard in the first half, the task had suddenly become a whole lot harder in Middlesbrough’s fight for survival – bearing in mind that they had failed to score in 15 of their league games this season.

But within four minutes of the restart Middlesbrough ensured that statistic would not increase and Downing was the architect. He charged his way down the right to counter after an Arsenal attack broke down.

Downing cut back and inside to allow Negredo more time to get into the box and the Spaniard muscled his way ahead of Koscielny to poke a volley over the line from the perfect delivery into the area.

That was exactly the sort of lift Middlesbrough required, and it lifted the fans in the stands too. There was a real sense that the game was there for the taking and Daniel Ayala was left wondering how his close range header was stopped on the line by Cech on the hour. Downing also wasted a chance of his own.

The openness of the game actually benefited Arsenal in the end. Moments after substitute Adama Traore had wasted a glorious chance, Ozil showed him how it should be done at the other end.

The German forward was picked out in acres of space in the penalty area by a chest down into his path by Ramsey and the low strike had too much power for Guzan to prevent finding his net.

Middlesbrough battled from that moment on in the hope of salvaging something, although not even the introduction of Rudy Gestede as a second striker could change the outcome.

And when Ben Gibson saw a late chance held by Cech the game was effectively up. The bigger picture is that Middlesbrough are running out of time in the battle to stay in the Premier League.