Carragher singles out Arsenal duo behind Southampton "mess" as points dropped
Jamie Carragher has pinned the blame on Arsenal pair Aaron Ramsdale and Gabriel Magalhaes for Southampton's opening two goals on Friday night.
Relegation candidates Southampton held the title chasers to a 3-3 draw at the Emirates. The Saints were unfortunate not to claim the victory after establishing a two-goal lead inside the opening 14 minutes, with Carlos Alcaraz and Theo Walcott scoring.
As Carragher has highlighted, Ramsdale and Gabriel were at fault for both of those goals. The result could cost Arsenal the Premier League title, as Mikel Arteta's side are now five points clear of Manchester City in second having played two games more.
Southampton took the lead within 30 seconds of Friday's game after Ramsdale's pass was intercepted by Alcaraz, who shares his name with the reigning US Open tennis champion. The midfielder punished Arsenal's goalkeeper by dinking the ball into the net.
"Absolutely fantastic, straight from kick-off," Carragher told Sky Sports when analysing Alcaraz's goal. "It’s a mess from Aaron Ramsdale, there’s no doubt about that.
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"Talking about Arsenal trying to show composure, that was what they were trying to do earlier in the game but Alcaraz reads the pass brilliantly, he’s waiting for that pass to go in there and he sets off before it’s played - reads the game brilliantly.
Aaron Ramsdale was at fault for Southampton's opening goal (Getty Images)Do you agree with Jamie Carragher? Let us know in the comments below!
"Takes a couple of touches and gets a decent effort away but as I said, from the goalkeeper it’s really poor. He’s got to save it... Alcaraz does brilliantly to read the pass and get the shot off but he wouldn’t have expected to score that, and he shouldn’t score. Ramsdale gets that right hand on it, he should be dealing with it, he should be stronger."
Then, in the 14th minute, Alcaraz assisted Walcott. Gabriel was marking the former Arsenal forward and failed to track his run, as he slipped in behind the defence for an easy finish. That goal left the Gunners chasing the game... and they never fully recovered.
In his analysis for the second goal, Carragher said: "[Thomas] Partey’s involved again, [Martin] Odegaard and [Fabio] Vieira’s the wrong side. So the whole midfield just gets taken out of the game. Again, it’s a brilliant pass, great run, a typical Theo Walcott goal.
"But, I’m putting myself in the position of Gabriel, just watch Gabriel. He goes with the run but he’s got to know he’s going to come inside, it was so obvious. The pass was not going to go wide to Theo Walcott - he had to cut that off. Then, can he finish there as he’s done so often over the years? He can."
Arsenal pulled a goal back through Gabriel Martinelli, but Duje Caleta-Car's second-half header restored Southampton's advantage. The Gunners managed to salvage a point when Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka scored late goals at the Emirates.
Arsenal will now need to beat Man City at the Etihad on Wednesday night to regain the title initiative. That will be difficult, as Pep Guardiola's side won 3-1 at the Emirates in February.
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