Bernd Leno: Made a brilliant save from Che Adams in the first half and was very unfortunate to see his record of five clean sheets in row not extended after Gabriel's own goal. Despite Mat Ryan's arrival the German is still clearly number one. 7.
Hector Bellerin: Solid enough defensively but didn't really offer enough on the day going forward. Showed good leadership on a few occasions after being given the captain's armband though. 5.
Rob Holding: Gave the ball away easily on a couple of occasions and could have scored himself early in the second half. But still decent positionally and defensively solid. Far from his best performance but certainly not his worst. 5.
Gabriel: Looked rusty on his return to the first team after COVID. Obviously scored the own goal but was dribbled past easily by Che Adams in the first half and had no idea where Danny Ings was, for an offside chance in the second. Not good enough to get his Premier League starting spot back. 4.
Cedric: To be fair to Cedric he was out of position so to have expected quality delivery on his weaker foot would have been unrealistic. But that does not explain why the Portuguese international so often the deepest man as Arsenal looked to play the offside trap. Disappointing after a good display against Newcastle on Monday. 5.
Mohamed Elneny: Simply couldn't handle the intensity of Southampton's press and was at fault for the opener. Frustrating as this is normally a strength of his. A disappointing return to the side for the Egyptian. 4.
Granit Xhaka: One of the few players who coped well with the Southampton press. Passed it well and maintained his positional integrity too. The Swiss international is quietly picking up a decent bit of form for the Gunners. 6.
Nicolas Pepe: Didn't offer much beyond his set piece delivery in the first half. Fell over quite a lot. Didn't really do enough given the dribbling ability he's clearly blessed with. Did look more urgent than his teammates towards the end, but couldn't change the outcome of the game. 5.
Willian: Would have been easy to forget that Willian was on pitch with another invisible display from the Brazilian. Arsenal were hardly able to go down the middle due to his inability to drop into spaces and struggled to create chances yet again as a result. 4.
Gabriel Martinelli: Showed the usual tenacity and energy you would expect from the Brazilian and threw in a few fantastic runs to match. Caused Walker-Peters problems all match and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. Can only assume he was taken off for fitness reasons as he was comfortably the Gunners best forward before his substitution. 7.
Eddie Nketiah: Was backed heavily by Arteta this week but did little to justify that with his performance today. The ball seemed to bounce off him every time it was played upfield. Snatched at the few chances he got and the decision to leave Balogun out of the squad entirely has been made to look a poor one. 5.
Substitutes -
Thomas Partey: Helped Arsenal turn the tide of the game immediately after coming on with his ability on the ball. The Gunners will hope he's back to full fitness as soon as possible. 6.
Bukayo Saka: Played on the left wing this time before being moved to left back soon after and didn't seem able to affect the game quite as well as on the right. Without him though Arsenal look lost as an attacking threat. 6.
Alex Lacazette: Is in good form but couldn't impact the game as much as he has done in previous weeks. On his heels for some good delivery from Saka. 5.
