An easy FA Cup tie? Arsenal owe it to themselves to not take Southampton for granted

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But those who have followed Mikel Arteta’s side closely know a trip to St Mary’s is not that simple. They will have memories of a Gabriel own goal ending Arsenal’s FA Cup defence in 2021, a late Charlie Austin dagger in 2018, and most recently, that gut-wrenching 3-3 draw at the Emirates that derailed their 2022-23 title charge. This is not the time or the opponent to assume anything is a given. Arsenal have made 14 visits to the south coast since Southampton’s promotion to the Premier League in 2012. In that time, they have won on five occasions, lost on another five, and have drawn the other four meetings. Even the latest iteration of Arsenal have not had it all their own way. They won 2-1 on the final day of last season, when Southampton were already relegated, but drew 1-1 there in the 2022-23 season, the year they announced themselves as title contenders once again. Speaking in the build-up to Saturday night’s game, Arteta said: “There are certain things that are going to be similar but with the (new) manager, the players and the amount of changes that they had in the squad, it is very different. “And at the end, you have to talk about the moment: what they are doing in this moment and what we are doing, and we as well are obviously a very different team.” Well, what are Southampton doing at the moment? Tonda Eckert took over as head coach after the departure of Will Still in November, with the German having initially taken on the job of Southampton’s Under-21s manager in the summer. He has since taken his team on a 14-match unbeaten run that started in January. That was the same month he lost top-scorer Adam Armstrong to Wolves. In the Championship, since the start of their unbeaten sequence on January 21, four of their players have scored three league goals each and five players have two each. Winger Leo Scienza has the most goal involvements in this spell (seven) and may be out injured, but versatile attacking midfielder Finn Azaz is next with five and could provide a spark. Eckert’s side are also in a similar position to Arsenal in that they are managing a difficult balancing act in April. Arsenal travel to Lisbon for a Champions League quarter-final against Sporting CP on Tuesday, while Southampton (seventh in the Championship) travel to sixth-placed Wrexham on the same night. External talk around prioritising certain competitions is natural at this stage of the season, but it can be particularly dangerous for both teams. Exiting a cup can provide an extra few days between matches later in the month, but the negative momentum that comes from a poor performance can sometimes be more damaging. For example, that 3-3 home draw against Southampton in 2023-23 was part of a snowball effect that had begun with a 2-2 draw away to West Ham weeks prior. Nobody knows how Arsenal would have reacted if they’d had a match shortly after last month’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City, but this international break has provided time for a physical and mental reset. “We looked at ourselves and the things that we could have done better,” Arteta said on Friday. “How the game can shift at that level from the first and second half; that’s something that we need to manage better and, again, this is going to make us better, I’m sure. We have to use it for the most important and beautiful part of the season.” Some fans may feel as much rotation as possible will be the move for this game, but proper utilisation is also about building players up ahead of big games — not just bringing them in cold. Starts for players such as Max Dowman, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christian Norgaard and Gabriel Jesus would be ideal while giving some players either rest or a smaller number of minutes off the bench. Jurrien Timber being back in contention should help manage Ben White’s load better than at previous points in the season after his two England appearances, for instance. The most interesting dilemma may come in midfield and at left-back. Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi deserve more time to recover ahead of Sporting away, and Martin Odegaard’s return should help with that. But Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafiori both playing full matches for their countries and Piero Hincapie suffering a hamstring injury when on Ecuador duty may complicate matters. Ahead of travelling to Southampton, Arteta said: “We are in a position right now that we are going to make the strongest line-ups and decisions that we possibly can to win every competition. We are two or three games away in the FA Cup, and now we know how important that competition is for us.” Whether that message is the same behind closed doors is another thing, but this is the attitude that must prevail. Arsenal cannot gamble when they are on the brink of something great. And if there was a club who embody a pitfall for Arsenal in particular over the past 15 years, it has been Southampton. Now is not a time to sleepwalk into a run-in, but, in Arteta’s words, to embrace a beautiful part of the season. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Art de Roché began covering Arsenal for football.london in 2019 as a trainee club writer. Beforehand, he covered the Under-23s and Women's team on a freelance basis for the Islington Gazette, having gained experience with Sky Sports News and The Independent. Follow Art on Twitter @ArtdeRoche