When you still have a place in the last eight of the Champions League and at least a six-point lead in the Premier League title race (only confirmed as nine IF Man City lose their game in hand), there is no way ‘bottling it’ – how some have called it – is a fair description…not yet anyway.
Arsenal still have bigger fish to fry in Europe while the much-coveted Premier League title is still within reach, but here comes the worrying word and that is ‘momentum’.
This is the time of the season where momentum matters since there aren’t any spare games to use for recovery if you lose one.
Exiting two cup competitions in the way that Mikel Arteta’s side has done against Manchester City and now Southampton, is not the sort of dress rehearsal you want from a team often accused of being nervous ‘bottlers’, right before the final, decisive weeks of the season.
What happened at Wembley prior to the international break was frustrating – but nothing too drastic – since cup finals can be lost, especially against any Guardiola team. But what occured at Southampton two weeks later is now concerning…concerning, because this was supposed to be the defiant response in the FA Cup, instead, Arteta’s men have given their doubters more reasons to be doubtful.
Some may say Saturday’s team was not full-strength, perhaps the “B team”, but that team still featured players who would start most games like Gabriel, Odegaard and Martinelli, along with players who will be needed in the title run-in like White, Mosquera and Madueke. In fact, a couple of injuries/loss of form to key players could make the side that faced Southampton nearly the “A team”.
Regardless of the changes Arteta made, regardless of this being a trophy which may be third on many wishlists (behind PL and UCL), Saturday’s FA Cup tie was a chance to gain momentum, and yet they stumbled…for a second game in a row.