Arsenal’s Southampton loss showed three stars Mikel Arteta should sell with fourth at risk

Southampton v Arsenal: Match in pictures

Arsenal were knocked out of their favourite competition on Saturday with a timid 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Southampton. The Gunners improved after the break but failed to test Fraser Forster enough bar one Eddie Nketiah effort and crashed out in the fourth round.

Mikel Arteta made seven changes to his starting line-up with the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Willian and Eddie Nketiah handed an opportunity to impress.

But all three disappointed while Mohamed Elneny also struggled in the centre of midfield alongside Granit Xhaka.

And as he continues to reshape his squad, having shipped out Sead Kolasinac, Mesut Ozil and Sokratis Papastathopoulos this month, the Gunners’ defeat at St Mary’s indicated that they should be offloaded in the summer.

Egyptian international Elneny has fared well at times for the Gunners this term but is out of contract in 2022 and therefore must be sold.

Elneny turns 29 in July and quite simply is not worthy of a new long-term deal. Selling him this summer and recouping some money, given the club’s financial situation, would be better than keeping him and letting him leave for free in 2022.

It was he who lost the ball for the Southampton goal and while one bad performance does not equal a bad player, Elneny is not up to the standard needed moving forward. He does a job defensively but Arsenal need more if they are to realise their aims of being a top-four team again under Arteta.

He has shown he can be a good squad player and was effective in the Old Trafford win over Manchester United in the league but Arsenal needed him to step up against the Saints and he did not, overawed by the hosts’ energy.

Elneny was not the only player who didn’t raise his level when Arteta needed them to, however, and another was summer signing Willian, who hasn’t come close to justifying his massive wages since joining on a free from Chelsea.

The Brazilian started strongly with a fine debut against Fulham but since has been nothing short of woeful for the Gunners.

Willian is not having the impact Arsenal expected him to, with no goals and just two shots on target in his 20 appearances in all competitions and only three assists, just one since September 12.

Whether he’s played on the left flank, the right or as a No 10, Willian has been completely ineffectual and even worse has not shown enough desire. His signing has been disastrous thus far.

It is not solely down to Willian’s presence on the pitch but they have lost six of their last eight games in which he has started and the only victory in that run came in the previous round of the FA Cup against Newcastle, and he was withdrawn with the scoreline at 0-0.

Offloading the underperforming South American would not be easy given he is 33 and earns a big salary but if his levels do not improve between now and May, he is a passenger who Arsenal cannot afford to have on their books and they must attempt to get rid.

Eddie Nketiah’s work ethic is superior to Willian’s but he is another who is not yet ready to be a game-changing player for Arsenal.

Loaning the 21-year-old out rather than selling him might be preferable but with cash short and Alexandre Lacazette potentially leaving at the end of this season, with his contract up in 2022, a better striker must be on the shortlist and Nketiah is one asset who could raise a decent amount of money.

Selling Nketiah, and possibly Lacazette too, would also aid their chances of keeping Folarin Balogun, who has made it clear he wants more starting minutes to sign a new contract at the Emirates.

The 19-year-old provided a reminder of his quality with under-23s hat-trick against Brighton on Friday night and is said to have as many as 15 clubs across Europe hunting his signature in the summer.

While Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe all slot into Arsenal’s senior side seamlessly, Nketiah still appears to struggle with the physicality of this level, although he scored in three Europa League group games.

Balogun, two years younger, has looked more dangerous in the sparing first-team minutes he has been given this season and is the one Arsenal should be backing to grow into a clinical No 9. If helping to realise his potential means Nketiah has to be sold, so be it.

The fourth and final player to disappoint against Southampton was Nicolas Pepe, whose valuation since his £72million switch from Lille has only plummeted downwards.

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Pepe created five chances against the Saints, per Opta, but yet still was not at the level expected of him in matches like this.

His overall statistics are not terrible – 13 goals and 13 assists in 65 games – but too often, Pepe does not take his opportunity to prove he can be a go-to player for the Londoners.

The Ivorian is not yet at the stage where he should be sold but he is in real danger of falling into that category, and must improve if he wants to avoid an early exit and the ignominy of being one of the biggest flops in Premier League history.

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