Arsenal are not strong enough
Throughout the entire game, the Arsenal players were being shoved off the ball, coming off second best in the air, failing to make the second ball, losing out on tackles, and just generally being out-battled in the middle of the park.
Arsenal desperately need some strength in their midfield, they need a Patrick Vieira, someone to boss the others about and put in game-changing tackles to scare the opposition.
The Gunners’ closest player to this is Francis Coquelin, who was substituted on in the second half as he’s still on track for a full recovery after his injury. He has been missed in the centre of the field, as the team seriously lack fight and determination, and with the Frenchman, he always brings that to the team.
Changes are needed
In certain matches, Arsenal really struggle to play their possession style game, where they perform their fancy tricks and flicks on the edge of the box, looking to walk the ball in the net. If there’s one team that are going to stop them from doing this, it’s Southampton.
After a while, it was quite clear that the Saints had Arsenal all figured out, and they made this difficult by ensuring Olivier Giroud didn’t get the ball to his feet to hold up the play for the Gunners. This is when Arsenal should have realised that their normal game wasn’t going to work, and this is when they should have started playing ugly.
Sometimes to get the points needed, playing ugly is the only way to do it. The fancy play should be ruled out, and route one football should be brought in. Not for all games, just in the games where the opposition are too physical to break down by passing the ball around them, if it hasn’t worked for 60 odd minutes, the chances are it’s not going to work at all, it needed to be mixed up.
The Gunners are on a goal drought
In Arsenal’s last three Premier League games, they’ve failed to score a goal, and quite simply if a team aren’t scoring goals, they aren’t winning games and ultimately, they aren’t getting the points they need at this crucial part of the season.
The Gunners haven’t won a game in four, which is the first time it has happened stretching all the way back to April 2014, which they then went on to finish in their famous fourth spot, and with the Gunners having their sights set on the Premier League trophy this season, coming fourth would be a real let down, and quite embarrassing.
Arsenal drop to fourth
With all three of the teams around Arsenal winning their games again, and the Gunners dropping points again, it now means Leicester have extended their lead at the top from the north London side to five points, whilst Manchester City also stay above them, meanwhile Tottenham have also overtaken them.
Arsenal face Leicester in their next home game on the 14th of February, and nothing but a win will be good enough for the Gunners, otherwise it would be a huge step back from being crowned champions at the end of the season after doing so well and being top of the table only weeks ago.
Key Performers
Being honest, no one stood out as a key performer for Arsenal today, none of the players played terribly, but also none of them good enough to shine out. there were a few players that made differences, such as Aaron Ramsey who seemed in the right mood for the game, Alexis Sanchez who had a few clever moments out on the left, Mesut Ozil played some good passes like he normally does, and Petr Cech made some vital saves towards the start of the game.
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