Southampton Vs Arsenal Preview

 It's been a difficult week for Arsenal after two defeats in a space of six days has our champions league hopes in tatters. Only a few hours after we had lost to Brighton, we had to witness Spurs completely demolish Aston Villa 4-0. The fans were frustrated. Frustrated at Arteta, the players, spurs, injuries.., it was that feeling again.

It's difficult not to draw parallels to the 18/19 season when an Unai Emery led side lost four out of their last eight games missing out on top four . Arsenal finished fifth just a single point behind Tottenham. Ironically enough it was Brighton and Palace that dented our champions league hopes again.  

So it's not been a surprise to see the reaction from the fans this week. There's almost like a dark cloud hovering over the fan base. It was made even worse when Unai Emery led his Villareal side into the semifinals of the Champions League. 

The Arteta outers are back again while the Arteta loyalists (Artetasexuals apparently) are in full support of their manager. The division that has bedeviled Arteta's time at Arsenal is back again, at least on Twitter. I find the reaction a bit over the edge since Arsenal are still not out of the race but there's a general feeling, albeit silently, that we are not yet ready for the big stage again.

 Whatever your opinion of the manager is, it's difficult to excuse some of his decisions against Brighton. In a bid to stay loyal to his principles and the 4-3-3, Mikel weakened his side even more. We could not buildup from the back, our midfield was being overrun, our forward couldn't even run the channels, our backup left back looked helplessly from the bench devoid of all confidence. Everything that could have gone badly went wrong.

Southampton Vs Arsenal

Southampton are next for Arsenal. The saints are in abhorrent form winless in five games. Demolished 6-0 by Chelsea last week and that was a pretty kind scoreline. So in a way it's the perfect bounce back fixture for Arsenal. Or is it?

We have a tendency to gift wins to sides that are in awful form. Everton won only one game from 2nd October to 8th of February, at home to Arsenal.Brighton came into the match last week winless in five, four losses and a draw. They did not snatch a win they deservedly won the game.

So the fixture is in no way a walkover. The saints are notorious for their high intensity game but often leave gaps that when exploited lead to heavy defeats. Arsenal however have not coped well to being put under pressure in our last two games. Conor Gallagher absolutely tormented us before Mwepu caused havoc for us last Saturday. 

Mikel Arteta has to stop the bleeding. We cannot afford to undo all our hard work this season in a space of two weeks. Thomas Partey has been a huge part of our winning run and is impossible to replace in the current set up. Lokonga is a bright prospect but playing him as a lone 6 is throwing him in the deep end. Brighton targeted him in the first half last week. They triggered the press when Lokonga had the ball and in a matter of seconds he was being surrounded by three or more opposition players. We cannot have him dropping in confidence at this crucial stage of the season, Mikel has to help him out. 

The Xhaka at LB experiment has to be over now, surely he doesn't play him there vs Southampton. The Smith Rowe as an 8 has also not worked. Mikel has switched to a back three for the second half in both defeats to Palace and Brighton. Maybe that is something that he tries again although sometimes it has seemed like he was just throwing all the attacking players on in a bid to salvage something from the game. Playing Saka and Martinelli as wingbacks is something we didn't expect to see .

The goals have dried up. Lacazette is having a torrid time upfront. He looks tired. We have been at our best when he's linking up play and holding the ball up but he's not getting time on the ball now. Defenders are bustling against him and denying him both space and time. Goals were not a problem as long as someone else was scoring but now we need to try something new. 

Southampton is arguably the best opponent to try something new against. They leave plenty of space for the opposition to take advantage of. There's an argument for Martinelli to play as a striker and honestly enough there's never been a better fixture to try it than this one. Timo Werner caused havoc on the Saints' defense with his pace upfront so it's not impossible for Martinelli to do the same.

The Southampton game paves the way to a crucial week for us. A week that will probably end or propel our European dreams. Mikel, it's time to show off your tactical prowess. It may be time to gamble on 72£m man Nicholas Pepe or maybe putting a little more faith in Nuno Tavares. Whatever it takes to achieve European qualification.