Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that Fraser Forster was the main reason that his side were unable to break down Southampton during their 1-0 Premier League loss.
The north Londoners were hoping to get back to winning ways following back-to-back defeats against Crystal Palace and Brighton in the last fortnight. However, it was Saints defender Jan Bednarek that opened the scoring on Saturday afternoon, finishing past Aaron Ramsdale in the aftermath of a corner right before half-time.
Arteta 's side had the lion's share of possession and produced 23 shots across 90 minutes but were unable to find the back of the net as Forster denied Hale End academy graduates Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe with excellent saves - prompting the former Arteta to heap praise on the commanding shot-stopper. When asked what he made of the game, the Spaniard said: "Difficult to explain because this is football, not basketball.
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"Because any other sport you win the game very comfortably and you’re talking about different things. Difficult to explain but at the end of the day it’s decided in the boxes.
"They scored one goal, we didn’t. For the amount of time that we spent around the box it shows that we have a situation, we didn’t put them in the goal.
"Because they have an exceptional goalkeeper today and because we didn’t have enough quality and enough capacity to break them down when we had the numbers and the situations open to do so." The result leaves Arsenal sixth in the current league standings, three points behind Tottenham Hotspur and below Manchester United on goal difference - although the Gunners have a game in hand on both of their rivals.
