It should come as no surprise that Arsenal fielded a makeshift midfield just as they finally reunited their first-choice back four. After all, they are team who excel at never quite being the finished product.
“Is it a back six?” asked one fan sitting in front of the press box at St Mary’s Stadium as the teams were read out. Calum Chambers, a teenage right-back who has spent half of his first Arsenal season being converted to a central defender, was placed alongside Francis Coquelin, who had to be recalled from his loan at Charlton in December. It was not the kind of partnership you would expect to see at a
club of the Gunners’ wealth and stature.
At times it almost did look like they were in a bumper-sized back line. Both Arsenal and Southampton were happy to sit deep and be patient in their build-up play on New Year’s Day, but Chambers in particular was more obviously deeper than most, dropping back regularly to facilitate more regular surges from his full-backs.
Coquelin, meanwhile, ran around plenty and made the simple passes competently enough, but this was a staid combination in the nominal engine room. It seemed as if they had to play deeper to compensate for their lack of creativity.
Olivier Giroud’s suspension meant a necessary posting at the tip of the spear for Alexis Sanchez but, with no service coming from the middle of the pitch, the Chilean frequently had to drift wide to find the ball. His combinations with the likes of Santi Cazorla were occasionally fruitful and his shimmying to shoot led to Arsenal’s most dangerous moments, but Fraser Forster was equal to everything that he could muster.
It would surely have been a different story had Arsene Wenger been able to deploy an Arsenal midfield more worthy of the name. If Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey were fit, you might expect more, although Victor Wanyama’s confident form leaves that an open question. The real what-if is that of Cesc Fabregas.
Read more: Why Wenger's Arsenal midfield misery is all of his own making
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