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

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

The Gunners didn’t 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 acute, Mikel Arteta’s men cannot afford any more setbacks in the following week if their remaining hopes of silverware are to avoid being jeopardised.

Rice was absent at St Mary’s having missed each 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’s hoped, will probably be fit enough to start out against Sporting Lisbon in midweek before Arsenal resume their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth next weekend.

‘From the beginning they looked vulnerable from the counter attack which we haven’t seen an excessive amount of from Arsenal,’ former Gunners left-back Gibbs told ESPNFC.

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

‘By way of the general picture when it comes to the remaining of the season do I believe that is going to derail them? No, I don’t think it should.

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

‘Moving forward I believe the club need to get back to the performances we’ve seen that have gotten them this far when it comes to being dangerous from set pieces and that creativity that has been lacking we’d like to seek out it.

‘There are enough players on 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 begin to sure up defensively and there will probably be less holes within the midfield.’

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

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

‘It’s superb to be frustrated tonight and in addition tomorrow to analyse what went improper, but then we also need to look forward because there are such a lot of big games coming up for this club.’

Arsenal must 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. ‘All of us had our hopes high to win and return to Wembley, but yeah, that’s not the case.

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

MORE: Mikel Arteta urged to drop ‘world-class’ Arsenal star for £42m teammate

MORE: Piers Morgan says ‘I’d somewhat shoot myself’ than discuss Arsenal after FA Cup shock

MORE: Jack Wilshere sends Max Dowman message to Thomas Tuchel ahead of World Cup