Arsenal have dropped points yet again, this time losing to Southampton, a team who conceded six goals vs Chelsea just last weekend.
The Saints won the match 1-0 and this defeat means the Gunners have now slipped to the sixth spot on the Premier League table. Arsenal have played one less game than Man United and Spurs but they have now suffered three defeats on the trot.
The Gunners had 76% possession of the ball along with 23 shots but the problem was that only six of these shots were on target. The Saints, on the other hand, had three shots on target from the nine they had attempted.
Speaking after the match, Mikel Arteta explained how a combination of two major factors resulted in his side looking so toothless on Saturday.
The Spaniard told the press: “Difficult to explain because this is football and it is not basketball. With any other sport you win the games very comfortably and you are talking about different things.
“Difficult to explain considering [the performance], to lose that football match. At the end of the day it is decided in the boxes, they scored one goal, and for the amount of time that we spent around the box, and the shots that we had and the situations and the clear-cut chances that we had – we didn’t put them in the goal.
Arsenal lose three points to Southampton 😬 pic.twitter.com/FAdY4OOcuh
— GOAL (@goal) April 16, 2022
“Because they had an exceptional goalkeeper today, and as well we didn’t have enough quality and enough capacity to break them down when we had the numbers and the situations to do so.”
Generally, Arsenal have been doing really well in the attacking front during the second half of the season but the few tweaks to the starting lineup was the primary issue why Arteta’s men looked so average.
Lacazette was missing due to COVID and surprisingly, the Arsenal manager chose to start Emile Smith Rowe on the bench. Eddie Nketiah leading the line was a major annoyance as well and to make matters worse Lokonga was very underwhelming in central midfield.
Nketiah had an xG of 0.08 while Lokonga, who was filling in for Thomas Partey, had a rating of 6.8 out of 10.
Injuries seem to be the major undoing for Arsenal right now and things could get even worse because they will now face Chelsea in midweek. The Blues recently managed to rattle Real Madrid’s cage in the Champions League so Arsenal will surely be in for a rough night when they visit Stamford Bridge.
