Arsenal 3-0 Southampton: 4 negatives for Arteta’s side

2. Xhaka & Partey Limited What Arsenal Could do From Midfield

In the case of Xhaka, he still looks off the pace physically. In the first half he gave the ball away a staggering 12 times, misplacing passes both wide and through the middle and getting caught out positionally in key moments.

Where he does get some credit, however, was that he at least tried to be positive on the ball. The passes he misplaced were attempts to play through Southampton’s midfield, even if the risk has to end up with more reward.

As for Partey, he was better. Better being the apt way of saying he was nowhere near as dreadful as he was against Everton but still some way off where he is expected to be.

The killer aspect of him lacking confidence is where he stands on the pitch. He looked lost at times. In the opening stages he wasn’t showing for the ball as Arsenal tried to build, and his touch is less elegant than it needs to be if he’s playing that central role.

Odegaard dropping deep to provide and option to the centre-backs and facilitate play was indicative of this. At one stage Gabriel could be seen giving the Ghanaian a mouthful for not being where he needed to be in phase one of the play.

While Partey improved after the break, as did Xhaka, those two have to start gelling more as it’s clear that Arteta is going to persist with them as a partnership moving forward.

Continued on next page…