Arsenal dropped yet more points in the Premier League title race with a 3-3 draw against Southampton last night, meaning they have just a five-point lead over Manchester City, who have two games in hand.
Mikel Arteta’s men will realistically need to beat City in midweek in order to win a first league title in 19 years, and considering the reigning champions haven’t lost a match since February, it’s an extreme challenge.
The Gunners are masters of their own downfall, however, falling 2-0 and 3-1 behind in a nervy evening at the Emirates, with only some salvation secured through two late goals rescuing a point that looked so unlikely after 80 minutes.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were among the few players who performed to their high standards, with both grabbing a goal and making 11 key passes between them; it’s just a pity the other players weren’t at the races.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was uncharacteristically poor, winning just two duels and failing to even attempt a dribble during the tie, averaging a Sofascore rating of 6/10 for his troubles.
But it was another consistent performer who failed to build on some excellent performances of late who really let Arteta down in Thomas Partey.
How did Thomas Partey perform against Southampton?
The Ghanaian will have been expected to assert his authority in matches like this, controlling possession so Arsenal could dictate the play and create plenty of chances, yet he struggled against the Saints last night.
Arsenal correspondent Charles Watts stated that Partey was “so poor” and that several big players such as Martin Odegaard and Zinchenko “underperformed”, and this is in line with the performance they put in against the team that was sitting at the bottom of the league table before the match started.
Statistically, Partey took 100 touches and completed 91% of his attempted passes, though this was all in vain as the Gunners struggled throughout and couldn’t quite find their rhythm.
The Ghanaian won just 50% of his duels, was dribbled past four times and committed two fouls during the match, while also losing possession eight times throughout.
Considering on average this term he has only been dribbled past once per game and wins 58% of his duels, his display last night was way below his usual standards, and just when Arteta needed his key men to step up and take control of the title race following dropped points against Liverpool and West Ham United, they pretty much blew it.
