Southampton 1-0 Arsenal: 4 talking points as top four fades

Despite being given a welcome boost before the game with Tottenham losing at home to Brighton, Arsenal produced another sleepy performance as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Southampton.

News of a late winner for Brighton in the early Premier League kick off should have provided all the incentive that Mikel Arteta’s side needed to end their losing streak. It didn’t.

A timid start to the game in which Arsenal controlled possession failed to create enough openings, although Bukayo Saka spurned a glorious chance in the first half when he couldn’t get a clean enough contact on Gabriel Martinelli’s pass and Fraser Forster denied him with a fine save.

Coasting through the match not under any real pressure, with seconds left on the clock Arsenal shot themselves in the foot with some woeful defending.

Southampton 1-0 Arsenal: 4 talking points as the Gunners’ top four hopes fade with a damaging Premier League defeat at St Mary’s

At sixes and sevens in the second phase of a set-piece, the ball made its way back to central defender Jan Bednarek who slammed home from close range.

Needing a response after the break, if anything the Gunners were even more laborious.

Having the ball in Southampton’s third for near enough the entirety of the second half, it took until Emile Smith Rowe’s inclusion for Arsenal to test Forster. The Saints’ keeper denied Smith Rowe with another fine save then made further blocks from Granit Xhaka and Saka as another dreadful display got its requisite reward.

Three of the more ‘winnable’ games remaining on the calendar have now ended in three straight defeats, a run of losses that had never before happened under Arteta. The situation is deeply concerning.

1. Arsenal Falling at the Easiest Hurdles

• Crystal Palace: 0 Premier League wins at home in 2022 – Beat Arsenal 3-0
• Brighton: 0 Premier League wins in 7 (6 defeats) – Beat Arsenal 2-1
• Southampton: 0 Premier League wins in 6 – Beat Arsenal 1-0

Arsenal continued their charitable work on Easter weekend by granting a side in dire form three easy points.

In order to be a success in this division it’s imperative that you beat the teams below you and the compete against those around you. Arsenal have come up short in that department three matches running.

Like Everton earlier in the season, the inability to follow suit on the rest of the division’s work and instead wilt when there couldn’t be a more welcome platform is killing this team. These were three extremely winnable matches that they’ve thrown away without anything to show for it.

Knowing that it’s a Chelsea and Manchester United double-header up next is terrifying. After that it’s West Ham and all of a sudden this team could realistically find themselves staring down the barrel of six consecutive defeats.

This is alarming.

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2. Lack of Goals Frightening

That’s now two goals Arsenal have scored from their last 63 attempts. It’s easy to see where the main problems lie.

Eddie Nketiah did OK on his return to the team, looking engaged from the off and aiming to run the channels and stretch the pitch, but his hold-up play isn’t effective enough and the chances didn’t fall for him. In a side without an effective centre-forward there is much additional pressure on the wide players to contribute, and when they fall short it leaves the side in danger.

Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka didn’t have the cutting edge on Saturday and when those vital components of your team are struggling it makes scoring a goal, let alone victory, a mountain to climb.

Against three heavily weakened and demoralised sides Arsenal have scored just one goal. And it was heavily deflected. The chances have been there in each of the games and the lack of conversion has been the side’s undoing.

Even if this team haven’t deserved to win any of these games, they’ve had the opportunities to sneak a result. At Palace there were chances for Smith Rowe and Odegaard at 2-0, against Brighton Robert Sanchez denied the Gunners more than once, and in this one it was Forster’s turn to make some miraculous stops in either half.

No reliable centre-forward, and no cutting edge elsewhere. The potential to score, let alone win, is dwindling.

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3. Where is the Urgency?

Just as with the game against the Seagulls, the total lack of zip and speed to Arsenal’s play is cause for serious concern.

Looking back at earlier in the season when Arsenal weren’t at their best but still won games on the strength of their rip-roaring starts, even that tempo has evaporated. The injuries are clearly having an impact, but when your midfielders are taking two or three touches too many it has nothing to do with those not available.

Sambi didn’t really put a foot wrong. His passing was fairly crisp and he kept showing for the ball, it was just sluggishness from him, Odegaard in the first half, and Xhaka that didn’t help inspire. Everything Arsenal did was in first gear for too long.

What’s difficult is to work out why. There are no grounds to claim this is due to a lack of care from the players, as they want this just as much as the fans. Is it pressure? Are they wilting under the spotlight? There are no excuses whatsoever, especially with a vocal away following singing and chanting from the very first minute to the last.

The disparity in performance levels having lost two players in alarming. The whole system looks flawed. While there is always going to be a drop off, it can’t be this gargantuan.

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4. Arteta Going Hail Mary

There is throwing everything you’ve got at a side to try and find yourself a route back into the game, and then there is what Arteta is doing.

By the 70th minute, Arsenal had six attacking players on the pitch:

• Nketiah
• Saka
• Martinelli
• Odegaard
• Pepe
• Smith Rowe

This newfound Hail Mary approach with no full-backs by the manager doesn’t exactly fill supporters with confidence. When there is a goal that needs securing then it’s absolutely worth throwing the kitchen sink at the team, but it also demonstrates the lack of success in the initial approach.

Having a system fall apart with two players missing, such is the desperation that Arsenal are now fielding every single attacking player they have at their disposal on the pitch at once. It doesn’t reflect well on the manager irrespective of how forced it may be.

When faced with crisis before Arteta has not found the solutions. Yet again that was the case.