Arsenal have suffered losses in their last two Premier League outings and at the time of writing this article, they are 10th on the league table.
Next up, the Gunners hit the road once again, this time to the St Mary’s Stadium in order to take on Southampton FC and according to Charlie Nicholas, the North London side have a series of issues to deal with.
Nicholas has claimed that Mikel Arteta has a number of problems to sort out in a really short span of time, hence the Arsenal boss should be happy even if he can manage to pick up a draw on Thursday.
The pundit told Sky Sports: “Norwich were poor but Southampton impressed – they are much better away than they are at home, but what a season Danny Ings is having. Nathan Redmond’s movement and pace is excellent, and he is good with two feet.
“Is this the time for Redmond to really kick on? He has always been troublesome and should be doing this much more.
“I thought Emiliano Martinez did well when he came on, but tell me any goalkeeper who could play behind this back four? They are left so exposed.
“Martinez slightly got it wrong for the last goal but did not play badly at all. I cannot work out where a result is coming from for Arsenal at the minute.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looked more lively, and I do like Alexandre Lacazettte but he was out of sorts. He has to earn the right to play and he is not doing enough.
“Nicolas Pepe scored a great goal but is not doing enough either. Eddie Nketiah will probably get a nod again and I do not have a problem with that.”
Southampton have wind in their sails after picking up a 3-0 win over Norwich City and on top of that, Arsenal have to deal with a long list of injuries.
Bernd Leno, Pablo Mari, David Luiz are all going to miss this match so the main problem for Arteta will be rotating and resting his key players, as the games come thick and fast.
Gabriel Martinelli is also ruled out for the rest of the season so players like Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe will have no other option but to dig deep and play those extra minutes on the pitch.
So naturally, after two losses, a seemingly tired Gunners side should take the pitch at St Mary’s meaning a draw might not be a totally disappointing result away from home.
