{"id":382461,"date":"2026-04-05T01:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T01:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/382461\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T01:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T01:08:07","slug":"arteta-takes-responsibility-for-gunners-shock-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/382461\/","title":{"rendered":"Arteta takes responsibility for Gunners’ shock loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta took responsibility for Arsenal’s meek FA Cup quarter-final exit at Southampton<\/a> as the Premier League leaders blew a glorious chance to return to Wembley.<\/p>\n

A fortnight on from the disappointing Carabao Cup final loss to Manchester City, the absentee-hit Gunners lost to Sky Bet Championship opposition at a rocking St Mary’s on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

Ross Stewart fired in-form Saints ahead at the end of a move featuring Martin Odegaard and Ben White errors, with Leo Scienza hitting the crossbar before substitute Viktor Gyokeres equalised for Arsenal.<\/p>\n

However, it is Southampton heading to Wembley later this month in the FA Cup semi-finals after Shea Charles came off the bench to seal a famous 2-1 quarter-final victory.<\/p>\n

“Really disappointed in the manner that we lost the opportunity to get back to Wembley,” said Arsenal boss Arteta, whose side boast a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League.<\/p>\n

“I love my players. What they have done for nine months, I’m not going to criticise them because we lost a game here in the manner that they tried and the way they are putting their bodies through everything.<\/p>\n

“Some of them probably didn’t even have to be here today. I’m not going to do that, so I’m going to defend them more than ever.<\/p>\n

“Someone has to take responsibility. That’s me and we have the most beautiful period of the season ahead of us.<\/p>\n

“And now is a moment. In the season, you always have moments, normally two or three. This is the first moment that we have with a certain level of difficulty.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to say difficulty when we’re going to play the Champions League quarter-finals and the run-up for the league.<\/p>\n

“If this is a difficult period, I believe there are many other ones that are much more difficult, so let’s stand up, make yourself comfortable and deliver like we’ve been doing all season.”<\/p>\n

Arsenal have little time to dust themselves down after Saturday’s loss at Southampton given the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Sporting is coming up on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Magalhaes looks a doubt for the trip to Lisbon after the centre-back, who withdrew from the Brazil squad with a knee issue, limped off in the second half.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know,” Arteta said of the issue. “I think he felt something. I don’t know exactly what it is. We’re going to have to assess him. But obviously when a player asks him to be substituted, it’s not good news.”<\/p>\n

Saints are also back in action on Tuesday, when they head to play-off rivals Wrexham buoyed by an unforgettable evening at St Mary’s.<\/p>\n

It was the greatest victory of Tonda Eckert’s nascent coaching career and keeps alive hopes of Saints replicating Lawrie McMenemy’s second-tier side winning the FA Cup 50 years ago.<\/p>\n

“I think the club has been craving for a moment like this for a long time,” head coach Eckert, only 33, said.<\/p>\n

“I think that we’ve suffered over a longer spell, and it’s just so important that we get that atmosphere back to St Mary’s how it should be.<\/p>\n

“I think today was outstanding. Not just for the generation from ’76, but also for the younger generation to be able to identify themselves with the club, with what we do. I think nights like this help a lot.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta took responsibility for Arsenal’s meek FA Cup quarter-final exit at Southampton as the Premier League leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-382461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}