Mikel Arteta speaks out on Arsenal’s defeat to Southampton in the FA Cup

Arsenal’s run in this year’s Emirates FA Cup season has come to an end after just progressing one around as the North London club was welcomed at the Saint Mary’s Stadium this weekend to face Southampton. Arsenal came into this game with the hope of continuing their cup defence but it however came to a stop as a 1-0 win saw the Saints progress to the fifth round of the Emirates FA Cup.

Arsenal came into this game with a heavily rotated squad as it looks like their boss Mikel Arteta had his eyes on their fixture list as these two sides will meet again in a few days from now. The rotation of course didn’t have a positive impact as their second string team failed to contain Southampton since the home team had come with a very strong squad with a big desire to win this game.

An own goal from Gabriel in the first half was enough to help Southampton progress to the next round of the competition as the Saints then decided to sit back in the second half and be hitting the gunners on the counter as their strategy. Mikel Arteta looked frustrated on the touch line as his team wasted some chances and he gave an honest assessment of the game in his post match press conference, and also claimed that they hoped to retain the Emirates FA Cup.

“No. I’m disappointed because we wanted to continue in the competition. We had a dream to do it again – like we did it last year – step-by-step, but that dream today is over.” Mikel Arteta told Arsenal Player.

“As well I’m disappointed with the way we conceded the goal in an area where we know we shouldn’t be doing that and giving the lead to the opponent. At the same time, I cannot fault the effort of the players, how they tried, how they improved throughout the game and tried to go for the goal in the second half with the way we did it.”

“But it wasn’t enough and we conceded a goal that we shouldn’t. We created the chances but we didn’t hit the target.”