Outclassed from 5 mins. We were the journeymen who kept slugging away and they had some individual style.

4

Individual errors cost Saints the game.

8

Missed two full backs and it showed. KWP was a huge miss. Our shooting in the first half was wild, the passing poor and we offered up very little in the second half. Arsenal played higher up the field than the cup game and we gave them the ball to often. We just don’t have any strength in depth but we will bounce back.

8

What a shambles, our defence was to slow and useless. Stephens gave the ball away for their first goal and what was McCarthy doing for their second. Up front tonight Ings and Walcott did very little. Could do with a couple of new players in this transfer window.

5

sadly we are a team not a squad (midfield excepted) . Saka had Vokins on toast, Cedric his best game for arsenal and although we had our moments there was an inevitability about it. Even Che looked off colour. They learnt from saturday and pressed us hard. I will not call out the players that lost the ball for their goals as that is excatly what we have done to so many teams this season.

Due to the high press we seem to lose steam after 70 mins and from then there was no way back. We will come back. Before the end of the season the big dane will once again be spraying quality balls from defence for KWP and Bertand to feed Ings.. COYRs

6

I said in the preview that if Valery and Vokins do come in alongside Stephens our defence will look very shaky.
Well Im sorry to say I was right. Are form has gone down hill since Vestergaard got injured. Hopefully Walker-Peters will be fit on Saturday along with Romeo.

5

A game too far. 2 games a week and trying to cover for anywhere between 6 and 10 absentees finally caught up with us. Not having 3 of the 1st choice back 4 didn't help either and although Xmas was a month ago, we gifted arsenal the majority of their chances, including their goals. 3 errors that resulted in Arsenal goals in 4 games from McCarthy now - guess he has a gunner phobia.
In spite of our defensive frailties, we actually created some decent chances and on another day, Adams and Walcott would steer their shots/headers wide of the keeper.
Despite great contributions from Diallo and Armstrong, we never totally got our passing game going, but that was probably down to fatigue and different personnel. At 2-1 down, Ralph gambled, it didn't work , so we played out for a 3-1 defeat, a subbed the likes of Ings.
No real shame in losing to that bunch of divers when you consider the team we had out, but yet again we rather frustratingly were our own worst enemies.

Oh well, hopefully we will have a few back this weekend (KWP, Bert, Rom) to help freshen things up. Villa are no walkovers, but we have already shown we can score against them and Ings is always good for a goal too.

4

With so many of our players out against the divers of london we had no chance or very little . I hope to see our full squad back soon and playing like we did earlier in the season .
And getting those results .

Arsenal new our weaknesses tonight , our fullbacks and pressing against us . We do it better than most but when against us its a worry .

Danny ings looks not quite on it and piss.ed off , Adams
Worked hard and had a good game .

Again its fine margins , the few shots we had were good , just either at the keeper or he made a good save . Seems to be happening alot these days though .

I wonder also if FF is asking how many more clean sheets do i need to have a run in the team . ?

Frustratingly for me is the almost stupid way we get a quick break or a chance of a quick throw in and it slowly goes backwards .
We only seem to look good or dangerous when we press and win the ball high up . When we pass it back to the defence or keeper we look slow and as tonight errors are made .

Good points are armstrong looked quality tonight ,a real threat .

5

Arsenal had learned from the weekend, changes their style of play and played their A team. A bit of gamesmanship disrupted the game and Saints took their eye of the ball for the third goal. Clever stuff.

Our defence made a lot of unforced errors. Hopefully the 2 young fullbacks will have learned something.

Our midfield was generally good. Armstrong and Diallo were our best players.

Adams plays some great passes but ultimately both he and Ings couldn't finish anything.

2

Frenetic first half where Saints matched Arsenal but gave the ball away too much. Superb corner-kick set-piece with JWP slicing the ball to the edge of the penalty area to Armstrong who caught the ball on half volley and slammed it passed an otherwise brilliant Leno. Unfortunately Valery and Vokins looked like second stream players and gave far too much away in the first half although to their credit improved in the second. Arsenal spend a lot of time wasting and gaining possession and breaking up possession of the opposition by falling over and tripping themselves up. Along with this, the gullible Ref and the porous defence Saints - couldn't cope effectively. In the second half Arsenal showed the billion £ class when they cut through the soft Saints flanks with slicing ease. Men of the match for Saints: Bednarek who unfortunately couldn't cover for the other defenders all of the time but tried to, and Diallo who had his best game for Saints looking positive and reassured trying to move the ball forward.

Unfortunately, Arsenal managed to hold two tight blocks of four to break up most Saints attempts to get into the penalty box. In the second Saints looked weary and didn't really look as if they were going score. The forward line were mostly easily blocked and Walcott provided a few wayward efforts. We need as many of the first-teamers back as possible for Saturday against Villa when Grealish and Traore need to be kept quiet.

3