midfielder Sambi Lokonga has criticised the Gunners’ performance in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Southampton, describing the loss as ‘a big disappointment’.
Mikel Arteta’s side lost for the third match in a row in the Premier League after Jan Bednarek’s first-half goal sealed victory for the Saints with goalkeeper Fraser Forster producing an inspired, game-winning display.
The result means Arsenal remain three points behind their north rivals Tottenham in the race for a spot following previous defeats to and Brighton.
Lokonga, who has replaced Thomas Partey in the Arsenal team following the Ghanaian’s thigh injury, believes his teammates must forget about the players who are missing if they are to recover their form this season.
Speaking to , he said: ‘It’s a big disappointment. I think everybody in the dressing room knows that it’s not enough for the moment but we need to stick together and get back to winning ways.
‘Yeah, I think we had the chances to score but the keeper played well. Today the reality is that we lost so we cannot talk too much about it.
‘We know the plan, we know what we have to do, of course, (some of) the main players are missing but yeah, we need to give our best so we don’t feel they’re missing.’
After showing clear signs of progress at the start of the year under Arteta, a sudden downturn in form has put a massive dent in Arsenal’s top-four hopes.
Prior to playing Crystal Palace earlier this month, the Gunners had won six of their previous seven league matches and looked odds-on to qualify for the Champions League as they sat in fourth place.
However, the north London side have since lost their last three games and have dropped down to sixth in the table, struggling to cope with injuries to Partey and left-back Kieran Tierney.
As Tottenham and Manchester United have drawn inspiration from the likes of Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent games, Arteta bemoaned the dearth of similar figures within his own squad following defeat at St Mary’s.
He said: ‘It is what we have. The players that we have, they haven’t done it in this league. When you have a world-class player that has been playing in the league for 10 years, probably you are not sitting here (with defeat).’
Arsenal next face Chelsea in the Premier League on Wednesday night before United travel to the Emirates on Saturday.
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