Arsenal had a chance to get back into the race for fourth place at Southampton, but they spurned that and now have difficult matches to come.
The business end of the season is upon us and things are about to get trickier for Arsenal. Having lost four of their last five matches, the final chase for that last Champions League place is coming into view and the fixture list has cursed Mikel Arteta with a challenging run of fixtures to kick it off. Four of their next five opponents are in the top seven. It is not encouraging reading when their last three defeats came against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton, three distinctly mid-table teams.
Over the coming three weeks, Arsenal have to play Chelsea, Manchester United, West Ham United and Spurs, with only a home match against Leeds United looking likely to provide much relief from an otherwise gruelling schedule. After the twin disappointments the previous weekend of losing at home to Brighton and then witnessing Spurs put five goals past Newcastle, Spurs’ desperate performance against the Seagulls in the Saturday lunchtime match should really have been all the encouragement Arsenal needed. They had to put some colour back into the cheeks of an increasingly exasperated fanbase against a Southampton team coming off the back of a confidence-sapping 6-0 home defeat by Chelsea.
But sometimes it just feels as though Arsenal gotta Arsenal. A first-half goal from Jan Bednarek was enough to put Southampton in the lead but, a series of excellent saves from Fraser Forster notwithstanding, these were three more points thrown away by a team that is supposed to be showing its Champions League credentials. For the third match in a row, all against teams that should theoretically have little to play for in the league, Arsenal misfired. The costs of this are entirely tangible; maximum points from Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton would have put them a point ahead of Chelsea and into third place.
Arsenal will have…
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