Arsene Wenger has called on Arsenal to finish the job they started in such emphatic fashion and secure a place in the Champions League last 16.
The Group H campaign opened with a 6-0 romp against Braga which was followed up by a 3-1 away win in Serbia. Shakhtar Donetsk were then blown away 5-1 to put the Gunners on course to cruise through to the knockout stages.
However, a trip to the Ukraine ended in defeat before Wenger's side also went down in Portugal just days after losing the north-London derby.
There were certainly mitigating circumstances for that loss at the Estadio Municipal, carved out of the Monte Castro quarry rockface, where Arsenal were denied a stonewall penalty by Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai when Carlos Vela was hacked down before being hit on the break by two late goals from Matheus as they were reduced to 10 men after an injury to Emmanuel Eboue.
However, Wenger, ahead of Wednesday's visit of Partizan Belgrade, feels a touch of complacency also played some part.
"After winning the first three games in the group, maybe we felt we had done the biggest part of the job, but we have to remember that the Champions League is never done until it is done," the Arsenal manager said.
"That was perhaps the reason for the performance in Donetsk anyway, but in Braga I thought it was more about a few decisions that were very hard to take.
"We did what we wanted to do in that match, but then suffered from the penalty decision and then Eboue's injury, which left us a man down."
Immediately after the match the Arsenal manager blasted the "absolutely useless" system of extra officials and accused Braga of using "every single trick in the book to slow the game down".
However, on reflection, Wenger feels referees at every level need all the help they can get.
"I am open-minded to the six officials, and despite the fact we had a bad experience with the Vela penalty, I am still open-minded as one bad experience should not form your opinion, you need time," Wenger said.
"Anything which can improve the decision-making process, I am in favour of.
"But what we saw at Braga with not just the penalty incident, but corners and goal-kicks too was that these officials aren't making decisions, so where is the help for the referee?"
Should Arsenal somehow fail to beat whipping boys Partizan - who have lost all five games, scoring once - and Braga get a result in Donetsk, then unbelievably, they could drop down into the Europa League.
Captain Cesc Fabregas will miss the tie following the hamstring injury he suffered in Portugal.
But the Spain midfielder is in no doubt his team should have already wrapped up qualification.
"If we don't win this group, it is because of us," said the Gunners skipper.
"It was up to us in the last couple of games and we didn't do it, so now we have to beat Partizan in the last game and pray that Braga get something against Shakhtar."
