FA CUP ROUND FOUR
SOUTHAMPTON 1 (GABRIEL og 24)
ARSENAL 0

IS it the players’ fault? Certainly, the men in blue away kits at St Mary’s were not good enough. Or is the manager’s fault? Well, given what we have seen this so far, it wasn’t really a surprise that they were not good enough, but it’s Mikel Arteta who keeps fielding them.

And, like that definition of madness – being to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome – it’s hard to comprehend what Arteta really thought was likely to happen when he was compiling his teamsheet.

Did he think that the sleepy players who have struggled to find a place in the top half of the Premier League would somehow come alive against a smart, organised team like Southampton? What does he know that he rest of us don’t?

The FA Cup success in August saved an awful league season for the club in the summer and you might have thought Arteta would want the same get-out-of-jail card retained for later in this term too.

But, no, out they went and Arteta only has himself to blame after turning to likes of Willian and Eddie Nketiah. For different reasons and at opposite ends of their pitch careers, both seem to lack the wherewithal for the challenges Arsenal face.

Add in Nicolas Pepe – who we know can wrap his foot around a ball and score a screamer once in a while, but daydreams through matches.

And Mohamed Elneny, who plods through the games as if playing the ball forward is a nice option but best left to sunnier days.

This is all before we get into the debate over Granit Xhaka, which probably should have been settled years ago but on he goes clocking up appearance after appearance in a midfield is too easily overrun and yet also lacks creativity and flair.

Trailing for more than an hour in a straight knockout, the lack of urgency should once again tell Arteta all he needs to know.

It was only when Bukayo Saka came off the bench that any pace and interest ran through the team’s thin attempt tor rescue the game.

The one goal of the game was unlucky in all fairness: Gabriel deflected in Walker-Peters’ driven shot halfway through the first half.

But it was reward for how seriously the Saints had taken the fixture. Once in front, they controlled the game well and although Arteta’s team pushed through a few gears towards the end, it was all too late and mainly uninspiring – and overhit – crosses.

In the last five minutes the problems were perfectly highlighted: Pepe scooped a lazy free kick over the bar when Arsenal really needed a quality moment and then in the final seconds, Nketiah flashed a shot wide as the chance appeared to emerge a hero.

You may say, you can’t compare him to an Henry or an Aubameyang – who might well have buried the ball – but this is Arsenal. The expectations are greater, which is why the team has won the FA Cup more than any other side.

Not this year though, not with this lot.

SOUTHAMPTON: Forster, Walker-Peters, Bertrand, Stephens, Bednarek, Diallo, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong, Walcott, Adams (N’Lundulu 78), Ings (Long 85)
SUBS NOT USED: Chauke, Jankewitz, Lewis, Ramsay, Valery, Vokins, Watts

ARSENAL: Leno, Bellerin (Lacazette 72), Soares, Holding, Gabriel, Xhaka, Elneny (Partey 58), Willian, Martinelli (Saka 58), Pepe, Nketiah
SUBS NOT USED: Chambers, Luiz, Maitland-Niles, Runarsson, Ryan, Willock