A Danny Ings brace and a late Charlie Austin winner helped Southampton triumph over Arsenal, ending the Gunner's four-month unbeaten run.
A Danny Ings brace and a late Charlie Austin winner helped Southampton triumph over Arsenal, ending the Gunner's four-month unbeaten run.
Arsenal coach Unai Emery says right-back Hector Bellerin could miss the festive period after limping off with a calf problem during Sunday's 3-2 loss at Southampton, adding to the Gunners' defensive crisis.
Bellerin was taken off at half-time while fellow right-back Stephan Licthsteiner also had to come off with a knee problem as Arsenal finished the match with two midfielders -- Granit Xhaka and Ainsley Maitland-Niles -- playing in the back four. Left-back Sead Kolasinac missed the match with a thigh problem while Shkodran Mustafi -- who was suspended for Sunday's game -- is also recovering from a hamstring injury.
"Bellerin has a small injury, he is going to be some weeks off I think," Emery said.
That's bad news for Arsenal, who are facing five games between Wednesday and Jan. 1, starting with a Carabao Cup quarterfinal against Tottenham. However, they'll have Sokratis Papastathopoulos back for that game after he served a suspension on Sunday, while Emery indicated that Kolasinac and Mustafi could also make quick returns.
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"Sokratis is coming back and we will see how Mustafi and Kolasinac are, and it is good news [Laurent] Koscielny can be with us for the next matches. It is not a good result but it was important for us [to have them back]," Emery said.
Emery was already facing a defensive shortage after Rob Holding was ruled out for the season, while Koscielny looked rusty in his first league game of the season on Sunday following a seven-month layoff with a torn Achilles tendon.
However, Emery played down the possibilities of solving the team's defensive issues in the January transfer window, saying it will be difficult to find the right player.
"I don't know now, because we don't have a lot of possibility in January but if we can [we will find] someone to help us," he said. " But only if we think they are the player than can help us with good performance.
"January is not good for this reason, but we are going to look and the club is working for this in January. Our progress is also with young players and we need to give them more chances to play and show us their progress."
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Koscielny was partially at fault for all three Southampton goals as he was out of position on the crosses that led to two headers from Danny Ings and one from Charlie Austin. However, Emery defended the Frenchman and the rest of his makeshift back line.
"I think they worked very well. It was very good news for Koscielny, a very good performance over 90 minutes," Emery said. "Physically, he could play the 90 minutes.
"Other players, like Xhaka played very well, and Lichtsteiner also. We conceded not many chances for them, but their efficiency was good. We also had chances to score more than the two goals but we didn't score. Maybe the difference is this. The control in the game over 90 minutes is more for us than them. We need to continue improving details, because three times we conceded chances."
The loss saw Arsenal slip three points behind fourth-place Chelsea and five behind Tottenham, meaning there is little room for further slip-ups during the busy holiday period if they want to stay in touch with the top four.
"If we don't win, like today, we cannot be in the top four. But other teams are winning," Emery said. "The objective is the top four, but we know it's not easy as the other teams are at a high level.
"We need to be very demanding of ourselves, as we are. After 22 matches unbeaten, we didn't lose but were only in fifth position in the table, because other teams are doing very well."
Source: espn.co.uk