Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted his side’s form was “a real worry” after Southampton won at St Mary’s to inflict a third successive defeat on the top-four chasing Gunners.
Jan Bednarek scored the game’s only goal late in the first half after the visitors had failed to adequately deal with a Saints corner.
Bukayo Saka was denied from point-blank range by Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster with the score still goalless, but further clear-cut openings proved hard to come by for Arsenal until the closing stages of the second half.
Emile Smith Rowe forced another fine save out of Forster after latching on to Yan Valery’s attempted clearance, before Martin Odegaard dragged a left-footed shot wide of the near post after cutting in from the right.
Forster produced yet another impressive stop to deny Granit Xhaka late on as Arsenal desperately piled forward in search of an equaliser.
“We’ve lost games in different ways – to lose the way we did today is difficult to explain,” Arteta told BBC Match of the Day. “If you saw the game, you’d say Arsenal had won comfortably.
“You have to put the ball in the net. You have to make the decisive moments count to win football matches and at the moment we’re not doing that.”
The Gunners remain three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham – who were beaten at home by Brighton earlier on Saturday – although they do still have a game in hand on their north London rivals.
Southampton, meanwhile, climb to 12th after claiming their first league win since February.
