Southampton 2-1 Arsenal: FA Cup defeat adds to Premier League nerves

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction

Arsenal are out of the FA Cup after a 2-1 defeat to Southampton at St Mary’s last night.

There was some pre-game excitement around the return of Martin Odegaard, and Max Dowman starting again, but this was a much changed team and you knew immediately this was going to be a tricky one. Cup ties tend to be more open, and that was the case early on. A Southampton player took a dive in the box early on which the ref waved away; Dowman’s run and shot at the other end was easily saved; and from a short corner a brilliant piece of defending denied Gabriel Martinelli a goal; all this in the opening 10 minutes or so.

They were quite happy to play it long, and I guess were encouraged by us not dealing with things the way we normally would. Gabriel’s miscued header provided them a glorious chance to score, Scienza went around Kepa who went to ground too early, but Cristhian Mosquera was on hand to nick it away when the attacker just delayed his shot a fraction.

Our best chance fell for Odegaard who miskicked but almost saw the ball go in anyway. Perhaps he’s rusty after being out for so long, but that penalty spot area finish seems to be a kind of kryptonite for him.A player of his techincal ability has missed too many chances from that position during his time here, I think he should have scored. At this point though, I actually thought we were playing quite well, Kai Havertz had a shot which deflected just wide, but shortly afterwards they went ahead.

They always looked dangerous on the break, and when Odegaard’s back-heel for Dowman was intercepted they drove forward quickly. Like the Gabriel one earlier, it’s a meat and drink header for someone of Ben White’s experience, but he misjudged it, the ball fell for Ross Stewart who took a good touch and then finished well to make it 1-0. One small error high up the pitch was compounded by a bigger one in our box, and we were behind.

We were sloppy in the opening part of the second half too, players not making passes you’d consider routine, and a mistake from Mosquera saw them fire another shot over. Mikel Arteta called for the cavalry with Riccardo Calafiori, Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke replacing Myles Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel Jesus and Odegaard. Southampton then hit the bar with an effort that Kepa well beaten, before we found an equaliser.

Gabriel’s nice pass found Havertz’s smart run, and I was amazed at the time he didn’t try take a shot on himself. Instead he pulled it back, Gyokeres was there to apply the finish and it was 1-1 with just over 20 minutes to play. As the game headed towards the 90 minute mark, with extra-time looming, Dowman forced the keeper into a good save, and from the subsequent corner another good short routine saw Martinelli drag a shot wide when he ought to have hit the target at least.

Seconds later, they got the winner. We didn’t win the header from the goal kick, they kept possession well, Martin Zubimendi wasn’t aware enough of the run of Shea Charles who received the ball in our box, and applied a very good finish to win the game for the home side. The Arsenal performance in a microcosm, not clinical enough at the attacking end, far too brittle defensively. There were some half chances late on, a Gyokeres free kick that hit the wall and a Calafiori volley over, but that was that.

Afterwards, Mikel Arteta said:

We’re very disappointed in the manner that we lost the opportunity to get back to Wembley. I think we again had many, many periods of dominance from our side when we generated chances and situations, we didn’t capitalise on that enough. When you defend in and around the box and directly in the manner that we did today, you’re going to put yourself in a really difficult position. They did capitalise on that, and that’s the reason why we’re out.

I congratulate them, I think they are a really good side, it’s not a coincidence among the run they’re in. And as I said, they were far more efficient than us when it mattered most, and that’s why they are at Wembley. So, I wish them the best.

The bottom line is that overall this was a bad performance from Arsenal. The fact that a 16 year old was head and shoulders better than everyone else is both a testament to Dowman’s talent and ability, and an indictment of senior players who really should be capable of a lot better. It seems almost pointless to go into the individual cases, because there were just too many, but there were one or two who we probably won’t (and shouldn’t) see again on the pitch for this club unless there’s a real emergency.

I do think Dowman’s willingness to try and make things happen is worth a mention in its own right. The freedom of youth mixed with that raw talent and potential are the key ingredients, and that kind of expression on the ball is something we need more of from others. It’s absurd to start talking about how important a 16 year old kid might be during the run-in, but this Arsenal squad carries too many passengers in attack, so when genuine quality presents itself, you have to take it seriously regardless of age.

Beyond that, however, there was little positivity from last night. An injury to Gabriel, who went off holding his knee, is hardly a good sign, and we’ve now lost two games in a row for the first time this season. I do think it’s fair to say this was not the strongest team we could have fielded, but it also demonstrated why Arteta tends to stick with a smaller group for ‘more important’ matches. The squad is large, but the quality drop-off in certain positions is still too big.

So, this morning I sit and think about the implications of this defeat. The reaction, which is understandable and I’m not here to police anyone’s emotions, feels more intense than just losing a cup tie. It plays into not particularly latent fears about how it might resonate for what remains of the Premier League season. We haven’t played especially well of late, but we’ve ground out important results. Last night was a reminder that when you don’t play well, and when you lack real quality in the attacking third, it doesn’t take much for the balance of a game to go the other way. Especially when you fall short defensively which is, for the most part, our greatest strength.

As someone for whom the Premier League is all important this season, I can’t lie and say I’m desperately unhappy that we might avoid a potential Man City or Chelsea semi-final. We look like a team that’s running on fumes right now, and this is my very slim silver-lining this morning. If we win the league, I won’t think too much about this game ever again, but in the cold light of day, I completely understand why concerns about the manner of the defeat are so acute. We haven’t been convincing and when you lose to lower league opposition (albeit a side pushing for promotion), every bit of scrutiny is valid. I don’t think worries that this kind of performance might also manifest itself in the league are invalid in any way.

If you want to say this now solidifies things for what remains of our season, fair enough. I think that was there anyway, and we often hear about how winning is a habit. It’s one we’ve fallen out of in our last two games, although a final and a post-Interlull FA Cup tie two weeks later do kind of exist outside of the normal spectrum of preparation etc. We now go to Lisbon, but Bournemouth at the weekend now becomes absolutely pivotal in our season and what remains of it.

There’s still so much for Arsenal to achieve, but the manager and these players need to shake themselves out of this little funk because the margin for error grows smaller and smaller all the time.

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Right, I’ll leave it there, but you can join myself and James an Arsecast Extra a bit later. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com. So fire away using the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server. The pod should be out around midday.

For now, have a good one.

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