Kieran Gibbs names the player Arsenal missed most in Southampton FA Cup defeat

Kieran Gibbs feels Arsenal will bounce back from successive cup defeats (Picture: ESPN FC)

Kieran Gibbs hopes the return of Declan Rice will steady the Arsenal ship following Saturday’s shock FA Cup defeat against Southampton.

The Gunners failed to bounce back from their Wembley loss against Manchester City prior to the international break after a chastening experience on the south coast.

With talk of an unprecedented quadruple proving to be premature in the extreme, Mikel Arteta’s men cannot afford any more setbacks in the next week if their remaining hopes of silverware are to avoid being jeopardised.

Rice was absent at St Mary’s having missed both of England’s friendlies over the course of the international break.

With Martin Zubimendi not risked given concerns over a knee injury, Christian Norgaard was left to almost single-hadedly marshal the Arsenal midfield against Southampton and was comprehensively overrun.

Rice, it is hoped, will be fit enough to start against Sporting Lisbon in midweek before Arsenal resume their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth next weekend.

‘From the start they looked vulnerable from the counter attack which we haven’t seen too much from Arsenal,’ former Gunners left-back Gibbs told ESPNFC.

Arsenal hope Declan Rice will return against Sporting Lisbon (Picture: Getty)

‘I think missing Declan Rice was big miss in that respect.

‘In terms of the overall picture in terms of the rest of the season do I think this is going to derail them? No, I don’t think it will.

‘If ever there was a time to have these performances in the last couple of games with these results the time is now.

‘Moving forward I think the club have to get back to the performances we’ve seen that have got them this far in terms of being dangerous from set pieces and that creativity that has been lacking we need to find it.

Christian Norgaard struggled against Southampton (Picture: Getty)

‘There are enough players in this squad to cause any team in Europe big problems.

‘I’m sure once we see Declan Rice come back into the line-up things will start to sure up defensively and there will be less holes in the midfield.’

Norgaard, too, is confident he and his teammates will produce an immediate response after losing to Championship opposition.

‘The message is to have a positive body language, to talk with your team-mates, with the coaching staff,’ said the Denmark international. ‘Now is not the time to go with our heads down for too long.

‘It’s fine to be frustrated tonight and also tomorrow to analyse what went wrong, but then we also have to look forward because there are so many big games coming up for this club.’

Arsenal need to shake off their first back-to-back defeats of the season to avoid further damage to what has until recently been a memorable campaign.

‘Disappointing evening,’ Norgaard told club media. ‘We all had our hopes high to win and go back to Wembley, but yeah, that’s not the case.

‘Sorry to disappoint so many travelling fans, they created an amazing atmosphere and, yeah, today was not good enough.’

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