I said this in the match thread last night too, but I think we started with a higher technical level in the team against Southampton than we have in a long while, and to my mind it showed. I haven't been convinced at any point this season that we were going to score, let alone score a second goal, but I really thought we would up until Gabriel got sent off. There was some small progress there.
What makes me sad is that I think it was more or less unintentional. Arteta had no choice, because we're playing a game every three days and some of his favourite players were suspended anyway. People tore into AMN but he was levels better than Bellerin was against Spurs and Burnley. For the first time in four months we had a working right flank with him and Pepe, who was also two tiers above your normal Willian performance. Eddie gave us a more useful player up front than Laca usually is too. He's underdeveloped in some aspects but he gives good hustle and movement, and he has a lot more between the ears than Lacazette does. He should be getting starts against teams like Southampton.
I don't think Arteta will learn anything useful from it though. The usual suspects will be back this weekend, the technical level in the team will drop, and so will the number of young and hungry players. Just look at the way he took off Pepe for Cedric last night. Disgusting. We're never getting the margins right under him, and the margins are what keep doing us in.
