Unai Emery doubts Arsenal will enter the January transfer market to ease his side’s injury crisis.
Hector Bellerin is his latest defender to be ruled out. The full back injured a calf at Southampton and could be missing for weeks, and Stephan Lichtsteiner also picked up a knock at St Mary’s.
Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac are already out, and in attack Danny Welbeck will not play again this season.
‘We don’t have a lot of possibilities in January,’ said Arsenal boss Emery. ‘It’s not easy. January is not good for transfers, but we are going to look. We are giving young players chances but we need a high level in the squad.’
Defeat meant fifth-placed Arsenal lost ground on Chelsea in fourth and Emery said: ‘If we miss out on a win like today, we cannot be in the top four because the other teams usually win. After 22 matches without losing, we were still only fifth and that is because of the levels of the other teams.’
Ralph Hasenhuttl, celebrating his first win in charge of Southampton, said: From the first minute we were working as a team and showed character. The third goal was a fantastic moment, very emotional. This is what I wanted to feel when I joined the Premier League.’