Twitter reacts as Arsenal suffer third straight defeat in Premier League after 1-0 loss to Southampton
Southampton excellently defended their one-goal lead earned in the first half against Arsenal on Saturday at the St. Mary's Stadium. This handed the Gunners their third Premier League defeat in a row this April. It was a huge blow to their top-four hopes, who were once in pole position to secure Champions League football next season.
They lost to Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion back-to-back before facing Southampton. They are now sixth, three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a game in hand.
Mikel Arteta's side controlled the game against the Saints and enjoyed the lion's share of the possession, nearly 75 per cent of it. However, they were unable to make the most of the goal-scoring chances that they created.
Credit should be given to the Southampton backline who sat deep for the majority of the second half and defended well. They broke through on the counter whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Arsenal should have taken the lead in the first half itself when Eddie Nketiah pounced on Yann Valery and forced him into a mistake. He then played Gabriel Martinelli through on the right side as he perfectly picked out Bukayo Saka with a square pass. Fraser Forster struggled to cover the goal but did exceedingly well to deny Saka a definite lead.
Ralf Hassenhutl's side struck late in the first half and scored the only goal of the match. Southampton's corner was defended well by Arsenal in the box but was recycled by Romain Perraud. He found Mohamed Elyounoussi in the box who played a squared ball to Jan Bednarek. The centre-back finished from close range beyond Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal came out with greater purpose and intent in the second half to save their season and Champions League ambitions. However, they felt like they were running out of ideas and despite creating frequent chances and controlling possession never looked like scoring.
The Gunners found plenty of room to build attacks from wider positions but were unable to provide quality deliveries inside the box. Saints goalkeeper Forster delivered a brilliant performance as he saved six shots on target to help his team sail over the line.
Despite all that attacking talent on the pitch, the inexperience of the Arsenal squad was on display as they missed their chances. The Gunners faithful were left fuming on social media and were unpleased with their players and manager.
Here are some of their reactions:
Mikel Arteta is good at disciplining players but tell him to bring results.
Arsenal lost to Palace, Brighton and Southampton in a row that’s MAD. 😭😭
if we lose even 2 of the next 4 games, arteta must leave
Ben White playing he’s doing us all a favour by wearing the Arsenal shirt, his body language today has been disgraceful
I get that Partey’s important, but goodness my eyes are burning watching this football.
As some of us said at the time…. a terrible decision by a rookie manager trying to look tough. twitter.com/realmattlucas/…
Pepe and Martinelli as our full-backs. Mikel Arteta really doesn't help himself sometimes, does he?
And Arsenal losing too 🤣. Premier league is a big 3 now. It’s Official #Arsenal
I am convinced @Arsenal are allergic to champions league
Ben White and Gabriel since Arteta won manager of the month https://t.co/xNAYNUaScO
Started the season we were an absolute disaster because of a few injuries & it looks like the end of the season will be no different.
This last week is a slap of reality because we have been overachieving with this “Squad” that & the fact #Spurs & #Utd have been shit!
#Arsenal
Odegaard 3 games in a row completely missing, rewarded with the captaincy today. But his minions will tell you we are resetting the culture and are not going to reward mediocrity like Wenger used to.
The team Chelsea beat 6-0 last week currently beating Arsenal 1-0 at half time lmao. I love football at times
Take one or two pieces out of the puzzle and Mikel Arteta's process comes down tumbling. Lol
#ArtetaOut arsenal have been patient with Arteta but now he is bottling it
@dpflynn3 @AfcLei @Arsenal We going to lose this game. Arteta is out of his depth we must be honest as football fans first as arsenal fan dude sucks
Arteta and Edu thought they were being really smart in January. Turns out and to nobody’s real surprise that they were just being incredibly fucking stupid.
I think we should be thinking of European League. This @m8arteta is a big joke, btw not ready for CL football.
A lot of mistakes in his overthinking style of play.
What is Arteta’s reason for playing Lokonga over Elneny? Pride will be his downfall!
#ArtetaOut arsenal have been patient with Arteta but now he is bottling it
Watching lokonga playing just cringing while guendozi destroying, the guendozi situation is enough to ebay sacked
#SOUARS #ArtetaOut #arsenal
Manchester United level on points with Arsenal as the Gunners lose more ground in top-four race
As aforementioned, Arsenal failed to strengthen their top-four hopes and succumbed to a defeat against Southampton. Meanwhile, Manchester United gave themselves a big boost at Old Trafford on Saturday. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second hat-trick in the Premier League to ensure his team won all three points against Norwich City.
The Portuguese opened the scoring with a simple tap-in after he was teed up by Anthony Elanga. He then scored a great header from Alex Telles' corner kick to double Manchester United's lead. The Canaries halved the deficit late into the first half and came up with an equalizer early in the second half.
However, Ronaldo completed his treble on the night by smashing a furious free kick through the Norwich wall. That was enough to settle the tie in favor of the home side. Arsenal and the Red Devils now have 54 points each, and even have the same goal difference of +8.
Earlier in the evening, Tottenham Hotspur also lost to Brighton & Hove Albion. However, they are still in fourth position with a three-point lead over both United and the Gunners.