A cause for concern or just a lacklustre performance on the night?

After two weeks of stewing on the loss in the EFL Cup final, Arsenal had the chance to return to winning ways and set themselves up with an FA Cup semi final. The international break proved to be much more controversial than expected, as half of the squad didn’t travel or pulled out with an injury. Rivals put in their two cents about it being a form of ‘cheating’. But, with Southampton in the immediate future, whoever wasn’t injured had to get the team through.

First Half

The game kicked off with both sides vying for possession. Arsenal couldn’t really keep hold of it, neither could Southampton. The first chance of the game fell to Max Dowman. The 16 year old burst through the centre of the pitch and was surging towards the opponents box. He decided to have an effort of his own, but it was tame and easily saved. Despite a couple of awkward moments in possession, Arsenal still created the best opportunities of the game for the opening stages. Gabriel Martinelli had two chances in quick succession. The first saw his effort blocked and the second was from the resulting corner. His attempt was going in, but another important block saved the Saints. But, with the Gunners dialling up the pressure, the home side needed to let them know they’re still dangerous. That occurred when Gabriel completely mistimed a clearing header and allowed Leo Scienza to scamper away. Scienza was initially one-on-one with Kepa Arrizabalaga and opted to take it around him for an easier finish. However, Cristian Mosquera recovered quickly and eased the Saints forward off the ball at the crucial moment. Martin Odegaard then had a succession of chances. The first was a powerful drive that Daniel Peretz parried away. Following that, Odegaard received a pass inside the box where he was unmarked, but completely fluffed the shot and it looped over the bar. Max Dowman then had another opportunity, but his stinging drive from close range was saved by Peretz. The away side were seizing momentum and a goal felt inevitable. Kai Havertz tried to break the deadlock and his deflected shot almost did just that. However, a running theme through this half was the mistakes that Arsenal kept producing. Misplaced passes, errors in judgement and underestimating the opponent. It was no surprise that Southampton would break the deadlock. A cross into the box was misjudged by Ben White, Ross Stewart picked up the pieces and struck the ball beyond Kepa. 1-0 Southampton. The Gunners couldn’t break down a solid Saints unit after that goal and no further chances were recorded for the first half.

Second Half

The next half began how the first half ended, the away side showing no real attacking intent. Like the start of the first half, it was Dowman that would get away the first chance of the second half. The ball fell kindly to him in the box and he unleashed a powerful strike, but there was once again a defender in the way. The North London side didn’t leave the mistakes in the first half and the Hampshire side almost benefitted from a Mosquera error. Tom Fellows darted towards the Arsenal box and was able to get a shot away, but cleared the crossbar. However, Scienza came that bit closer with Southampton’s next effort. After taking a couple of touches inside, he unleashed a speculative shot that had beaten Kepa, but crashed off the crossbar. Despite some good chances for Tonda Eckert’s side, Arsenal delivered a gut punch just before the 70th minute. Gabriel slipped in Havertz who drove towards the byline. Viktor Gyokeres screamed for the cutback which arrived moments later and he placed his shot into the bottom corner. 1-1. A relatively quiet 10 minutes followed the equaliser, but it was to be Arsenal that had the next biggest chance. Dowman was proving to be a thorn in the side of the Saints team and he almost caught Peretz out. Dowman composed himself and curled an effort destined for the top corner, but Peretz moved across the goal quickly and made the crucial save. The resulting corner ended up with Martinelli trying to squeeze an effort in, but ultimately drifted wide. No sooner had the Brazilian missed that chance, the Saints were up the other end slotting home the winner. A quick breakaway found Fellows who drove at the Arsenal defence, who were all at sea, and eventually laid the ball off to Shea Charles. Space opened up and he prodded the ball past Kepa. Mikel Arteta’s men couldn’t really engineer a chance after that point beyond Martinelli firing a tame effort towards goal. 2-1 Southampton and Arsenal are out of the FA Cup.

Statistics

In reality Arsenal weren’t good enough to beat Southampton, but the statistics do fall overwhelmingly in Arsenal’s favour. Arteta’s men had 23 shots with 7 on target. This generated an xG of 1.61, creating 1 big chance. Eckert’s men had 8 shots with 4 on target. This created an xG of 1.21 with 2 big chances created.

Player Ratings

Starting XI

Kepa – 3 – I don’t think he could really do much with either goal as they were both well placed and into the bottom corner, but I never feel safe with him. He made a few mistakes and looked shaky all game.

White – 2 – Given the run around by Scienza, not entirely sure how he escaped a yellow card. He was also at fault for their first goal as he failed to clear the lines. He entirely mistimed his jump and they directly scored from that.

Mosquera – 5 – One wayward pass almost lead to a goal, but he did make a huge recovery tackle to prevent a guaranteed goal. Not bad, not great.

Gabriel – 4 – A defence that was full of mistakes and Gabriel was no exception. Mistiming his header should’ve resulted in a goal if it wasn’t for Mosquera recovering. Went off injured which is a concern for the Premier League and Champions League.

Lewis-Skelly – 3 – He’s suffering from a lack of game time, resulting in some dodgy moments. He wasn’t helped by a disorganised defence, but there was flashes of his potential.

Norgaard – 5 – I didn’t mind his performance. I think he struggled to hold down the midfield, but he had to do it alone. Southampton loved a long ball, which ultimately bypassed Norgaard. However, he made some key interceptions and kept Arsenal ticking over when they did have possession.

Odegaard – 6 – He’s clearly had some issues this season, but that wasn’t bad from him out there. He fluffed a shot that should’ve been a goal and gave possession away for Southampton’s first. I will say, he did lose the ball close to their corner flag so there was plenty of time for the team to win the ball back. He seemed more positive in his buildup and tried to keep things ticking over. It’s no surprise that our chances dried up when he left the pitch.

Havertz – 5 – Some comedically bad moments from him, but he did get a good assist. His movement resulted in the through ball from Gabriel and he picked out Gyokeres from there. He had the potential to do more, but couldn’t quite keep the ball under control for long enough.

Dowman – 8 (MOTM) – I’m not buying into the idea that just because he’s 16 he doesn’t have a right to be the best player on the pitch. ‘It says a lot that a 16 year old is the best player for Arsenal’, not a sentence I agree with. He was just awesome and I sat there forgetting he is just 16. He had a few efforts and deserved a goal in the end. Full of life and I hope we see much more of him.

Jesus – 1 – Anonymous. Simply anonymous.

Martinelli – 4 – A magnet for chances, but he’s just frustrating to watch. There was no need to push the referee and it sums up his petulant attitude. He constantly demands the ball and I like that, but he does very little when given the ball.

Subs

Calafiori – 4 – Didn’t really do a great deal when he came on and I think he could’ve been smarter when defending the counter attack for their winner.

Gyokeres – 7 – He had one chance given to him in his zone and he scored it. Did we bother to try and get the ball into that position for him again? No. He’s an incredible finisher and we just don’t get the ball to him consistently enough. He has the mentality for the run in, just got to hope his ability can keep up.

Madueke – 4 – Tried to make things happen, but kept running the ball out of play. He had one chance to get a proper shot off, but cleared the crossbar.

Saliba – 4 – Probably wasn’t going to play in this one, but had to cover the injured Gabriel. Slotted right in, but not in a good way. Didn’t feel so assured defending or in possession.

Zubimendi – 4 – Ran around a bit, but didn’t really do much. Failed to prevent the second goal despite him being in close proximity.

Summary

Once again it’s case of the performance being worse than the result. I can handle losing a cup game, but I can’t accept a performance like that. Yes they created more this time around, but the overall mentality felt flat. No organisation, no discipline and no character (outside of a 16 year old). If we win the Premier League then this game will get shrugged off, but the performance is worrying me. I can’t really name a player that feels like they’re in good form. The whole team needs to step up now because I can’t imagine what will happen if we end up bottling this league title. We need the key squad players back as soon as possible because our fringe players aren’t going to get us through it. 7 league games left with up to 5 Champions League fixtures. That leaves a maximum of 12 games and a minimum of 9. This is the business end, strap in and support the boys.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

We’re still relatively unaware of who will be fit for the Sporting Lisbon match. Having said that, I think some of the ‘key’ squad players were allowed extra time off to recover and Arteta would’ve likely expected the fringe players to get them through. Arsenal cannot afford a third loss in a row, even if there’s still time to recover in the second leg. But, that second leg is right before Manchester City away, so we could do with an easier tie. With that in mind, David Raya will get the nod. I have a feeling that Jurrien Timber, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka will be fit and will automatically get in. Saliba, Odegaard and Zubimendi are back and will likely all get in the side. The only change could be Havertz in over Odegaard. I’m not sure if Leandro Trossard will be back, but I do feel like Arteta will prefer Martinelli for Champions League fixtures. I feel like Gabriel’s injury could be serious, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Mosquera gets in the side. Especially with Piero Hincapie likely to still be absent. Riccardo Calafiori will probably slot in at left back, even if I’d rather preserve the Italian for Premier League football. Gyokeres is in great form right now and I can see him starting. No one will know Sporting better than him, so it’d make sense for the Swedish international to start. Let’s get back to winning ways and get that morale up. Let’s get it!