Arsenal lacked a lot of quality against Southampton in the FA Cup this weekend. Mikel Arteta made seven changes, and that clearly played a massive part in our defeat on Saturday.
As it has been for most parts this season, we lacked creativity. Nicolas Pepe created five chances, but none of our midfielders offered anything throughout the game.
Granit Xhaka started alongside Mohamed Elneny in the middle of our park. The former didn’t have the best of games, while the Egyptian didn’t offer much in our attacking third.
The loss really is a hard one to take. Arsenal are the holders and a lot was expected of Arteta’s team this season. We played nothing like we did in our previous five games, and that is the most disappointing thing.
We should now focus on the Premier League and the Europa League, and one of our key players who missed Saturday’s game has announced that he’ll be back soon.
Dani Ceballos has missed our last two games. The Spaniard is our only midfielder – apart from Emile Smith Rowe and Thomas Partey – capable of unlocking a defence, and if he was fit on Saturday, he would’ve started. Thankfully, it looks like he’ll be back very soon.
Should Ceballos start regularly?
Partey and Granit Xhaka are Arteta’s first choice in central midfield. The duo showed recently that they can form a solid partnership in the middle of the park, but Ceballos should be preferred over the Swiss international against teams who sit deep.
The Real Madrid man has the ability to drive with the ball into the opposition half. His dribbling skills are fantastic and he has the vision to pick a pass to unleash our strikers.
Ceballos’ return is a big boost for Arsenal. With the Europa League kicking off in the coming weeks, he will be a very important player for us, and Arteta will be delighted that he will available for those games.
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