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Arsenal’s FA Cup run came to an end today as Southampton knocked out the Gunners in the fourth round.
An own goal from Gabriel half way through the first-half proved to be decisive. Otherwise, the Saints didn’t make too many big chances as evidenced by their xG of just 0.43 as opposed to Arsenal’s 1.05.
Arsenal went on to dominate the rest of the match after Southampton opened the scoring but failed to grab a goal to equalize what was a tense affair. In consequence, Mikel Arteta lost his first FA Cup encounter as Arsenal boss.
The Arsenal manager will be hoping for more when Arsenal visit St. Mary’s again on Tuesday evening. It was a rather sluggish performance from a much-changed Arsenal side.
Onto the Gunners’ player ratings.
Goalkeeper and Defenders
Bernd Leno (GK) – 6: Could do very little about the goal after a horrible deflection off Gabriel. Did well otherwise in what was where the German was overwhelmingly untroubled.
Hector Bellerin (RB) – 6: Quite a strange decision by Mikel Arteta to pull him off at the 70 minute mark. The Spaniard made numerous driving runs and was untroubled defensively. Not a performance to write home about but he did his job.
Rob Holding (CB) – 6: One of many players who did very little wrong today. Holding wasn’t culpable for the Southampton goal and led the backline adequately. Slightly clumsy with his passing at times.
Gabriel (CB) – 5: Grew into the game after a very poor start which was typified by his unfortunate own-goal. Looked suspect 1v1 at times. His overall poor display can be excused by his lack of match sharpness.
Çedric (LB) – 5: One sensed this was a desperate attempt from Mikel Arteta to see whether he really needs a new left-back. News flash – he does. Çedric looked especially poor on the left and as one would expect much more comfortable when he was moved back to his natural position at right-back.
Midfielders
Mohamed Elneny (CM) – 4: An uncharacteristically poor display from Elneny. Not only was he conservative on the ball as he usually is, but he made a crucial error in the build-up to the first goal of the game. Poor.
Granit Xhaka (CM) – 5: After a run of promising displays, Xhaka disappointed today. His passing was unadventurous and he wasn’t breaking up play as well as he has been in recent weeks. Need more from him if he starts on Tuesday.
Willian (CAM) – 4: It’s getting boring now. Every week he fails to change people’s opinions of him. He’s not been quite as bad as some have suggested he’s been but quite frankly he deserves the stick he receives at the moment. Likely the last time he’ll feature in a starting lineup for a while.
Forwards
Nicolas Pépé (RW) – 5: Pépé looked like he could have been impactful at times, but once again he delivered an overall underwhelming display on the right flank. His late free kick moves him down from a 6 to a 5. Diabolical.
Eddie Nketiah (ST) – 4: Nketiah often looks like he’s allergic to having a good shot from anywhere other than inside the six yard box. The youngster’s hold up play was poor once again but in fairness to him the restricted role he was tasked with didn’t really suit him.
Gabriel Martinelli (LW) – 6: Understandably appeared to be lacking in sharpness. Still, he was impressive with his pressing as always and was unlucky with his contact with the ball with a half-chance early on. Hooking him after an hour made sense.
Substitutes
Thomas Partey – 7: The Ghanaian was the best player on the pitch when he came on. His pressing resistance is just so impressive and his line-breaking passes are also very refreshing to watch. Can’t wait to see more from him.
Bukayo Saka – 6: Delivered a devilishly dangerous ball into the box late on and tried to influence the game elsewhere. However, he failed to have his usual impact, mainly due to the fact he kept being moved around the pitch into different roles by Mikel Arteta.
Alex Lacazette – N/A: Didn’t really influence the match. Would’ve liked to have seen him brought on earlier.
Referee – 0: Absolutely horrendous officiating display.