Arteta says his Arsenal side would have beaten Saints 'in any other sport'

Arteta’s side controlled the ball and amassed 19 shots in the second half, but couldn’t break down the stubborn Saints buoyed by another outstanding performance from goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

In the end, Jan Bednarek’s clinical finish on the stroke of half-time proved enough to give Saints all three points prompting frustration from the Arsenal manager.

Saints players celebrate at full-time. Image by: Stuart Martin

“Difficult to explain,” Arteta said. “This is football, not basketball. In any other sport, you win the game comfortably and you’re talking about different things. 

“Difficult to explain losing that football match. But at the end of the day, it’s decided in the boxes, they score one goal we didn’t. 

“And for the amount of time we spent around their box and the shots we had and the clear-cut chances we had…we didn’t put them in the net because they had an exceptional goalkeeper today and also because we didn’t have enough quality and enough capacity to break them down when we had the numbers and situations open to do so.”

After suffering a 6-0 defeat to Chelsea last weekend, Ralph Hasenhuttl set his side up to defend deep with a back five and it worked perfectly as determined defending and inspired goalkeeping kept Arsenal at bay.

Saints are now 12th in the Premier League table, one point adrift of Leicester City in ninth. Hasenhuttl's side are next in action on Thursday, April 21st when they head to Lancashire to face Burnley.