“He was all over the place”

Premier League legend Alan Shearer has called out 3 Arsenal players for committing costly errors in the FA Cup quarter-final loss to Southampton. Mikel Arteta’s men suffered a 2-1 loss at St. Mary’s Stadium, just 13 days after the Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City.

Arsenal were uncharacteristically poor at the back as goals from Ross Stewart and Shea Charles, either side of an equaliser from Viktor Gyokeres, sealed their fate. Shearer highlighted how Southampton winger Leo Scienza dominated Ben White and touched upon Cristhian Mosquera and Gabriel Magalhaes also struggling against Stewart.

Discussing the result on ‘The Rest is Football’ podcast with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards, Shearer claimed White had no idea what to do against Scienza.

He commented:

“Scienza gave Ben White an absolute torrid evening, didn’t he? He was all over the place, Ben White. He didn’t know what to do, couldn’t cope with Scienza.”

Shearer concluded by saying how errors from White, Mosquera and Gabriel cost Arsenal in the game and went on to suggest they were lucky to have conceded just two goals.

The former Newcastle star added:

“Ross Stewart forced Mosquera and Gabriel into errors that you’ve not seen from them too many times. All three of those players I mentioned made huge errors and could have been punished (even) more.”

Notably, White missed a header to allow Stewart take the lead for Southampton in the game. The England international isn’t having the best of times for club and country after having been booed by the Three Lions’s fans during the international break.

FA make decision on punishing Arsenal star Martinelli for shoving referee in FA Cup loss

Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli is set to avoid punishment for shoving referee Sam Barrott during the quarter-final loss to Southampton, according to The Athletic.

The Brazilian winger received a yellow card in the dying embers of the game after he pushed the referee in attempt to take a quick free-kick. Since Barrott addressed the incident with a booking, it is being reported that Martinelli will escape further punishment.

Notably, former Fulham star Aleksandar Mitrovic was handed an eight-match ban by an independent commission for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh in an FA Cup loss to Manchester United in 2023. He was also fined a sum of £75,000 as part of his punishment for the act.

Martinelli will consider himself lucky to have not attracted similar punishment.