LONDON -- Three points on Southampton's 2-0 EFL Cup win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
1. Excellent Saints leave Arsenal in their wake
In the wider scheme of things, Arsenal exiting the EFL Cup at the quarterfinal stage will not be a significant glitch in their season. Yet it's the nature of their defeat, 2-0 to Southampton at the Emirates, that will be of concern.
In the end, the score line flattered an Arsenal side for whom "poor" seems an inadequate description: Southampton didn't need to be excellent to win, but they were nonetheless. First-half goals from Jordy Clasie and Ryan Bertrand were enough to claim a semifinal spot for Claude Puel's men, but you suspect they could have scored more if they wanted to. For a club that have become the model of how to survive and compete in a league stacked against them, victory in this competition would seem a worthy reward.
Arsenal might point to their team as a reason for their lacklustre display: 10 changes were made to the XI that defeated Bournemouth at the weekend, only Mohamed Elneny retaining his pace. But that excuse doesn't stand up to much scrutiny, as Southampton also mixed things up, the difference being their side looked much more like one that would compete in a Premier League game.
Beyond a brief injury scare for Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal's right-back slot has already suffered ailments to Hector Bellerin and Mathieu Debuchy), almost nothing of interest occurred in the opening 10 minutes. Then Southampton took the lead. Bertrand sprinted down the left and drove a low cross into the area; Sofiane Boufal's initial effort was cleared to the edge of the area, where Clasie was waiting to drive it home. For Arsenal, it was a troublingly simple goal to succeed: Southampton cared not even a little bit.
It was two shortly before half-time. Boufal was allowed too much space on the left side of the area, made use of that time, and picked out Bertrand on the edge of the box. Again, the left-back wasn't closed down quickly enough and slotted a measured shot through a thicket of legs and into the corner. Southampton's players looked sparky and sharp and moved as one; Arsenal's looked like they had only just met. Not long after the goal, Southampton's Shane Long, a workhorse but nobody's idea of a flamboyant player, started showboating. Half-time couldn't come soon enough for most inside the Emirates.
Yet the only comfort the break brought was a kids' penalty shootout and perhaps a warm drink. Southampton continued to dominate in the second half, and the only surprise was that they weren't four or five up and out of sight as the clock ticked down. Long missed when clean through, substitute Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had a stinging drive saved, and Southampton had a number of other opportunities to kill the match for good. Arsenal, on the other hand, barely tested keeper Fraser Forster and for long spells were largely limited to (poorly directed) shots from outside the area.
A couple of times in the second half, Saints captain and centre-back Virgil van Dijk wandered upfield to have a go as a centre-forward. It might be a neat summary of Arsenal's performance that they seemed not to notice.
2. Ramsey indifferent once again
Perhaps one of the most curious players in the Arsenal squad is Aaron Ramsey. Capable, as he has showed in flashes before, of being a whirling force of nature, able to control games and bend opposition players to his will.
For Wales, he is a key cog in their system, the midfield rock around which the rest of the team is built. Many a Welshman will have dark nights of the soul considering how different history might have been were he not suspended for their Euro 2016 semifinal against Portugal. And for Arsenal in 2013-14, Ramsey looked like one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, scoring 15 goals by the end of November before an injury curtailed what was shaping up to be the best season of his career.
Since then, it's been thin gruel. Ramsey has never really held down a regular place in the side, and as the club's spending became freer, so more players of class arrived and his opportunities dwindled. Here, he played in the No. 10 role, in which a player of his gifts should excel, but he was largely anonymous, shackled by Clasie and youngster Harrison Reed.
Ramsey's problem is that nobody -- not least him, and more importantly manager Arsene Wenger -- seems entirely sure what his best position is. He has played most roles in Arsenal's midfield, from a deep-lying one of two to either flank to a more advanced position. Alas for him, Arsenal have better options in all positions.
"I want to get back in there now, get back into that team," said Ramsey this week. "That's my target: to help this team achieve what we want to achieve this year." This performance would not have done him any favours in that respect, and at nearly 26, having been at Arsenal for eight years, his career is drifting, clearly capable of excellence but too rarely producing it. Next summer could be very interesting.
3. Saints boast their depth
It was informative to note the difference in quality between the two teams on show Wednesday night: not the quality of the players in question, but the two teams. Arsenal were disjointed, disinterested, looking exactly like a side that hadn't played with each other before.
The odd thing was, Southampton made nearly as many changes to their side as Arsenal. Only two of the outfield players that started against Everton did so in North London, and their entire front six was altered. Yet going forward they looked cohesive, slick and -- basic as it might seem -- used to playing with each other.
It would be a step too far to say Southampton's squad is stronger than Arsenal's, but while the Gunners have an excellent first XI and a group of very good backups, Southampton just have a terrific squad. For example, the drop in quality for Arsenal between Alexis Sanchez and Lucas Perez, or Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista, or Bellerin and Jenkinson (removed here with 25 minutes left, before he embarrassed himself further) is stark and noticeable.
Not so for Puel's side, who can replace Charlie Austin with Long, or Oriol Romeu with Clasie, and not suffer excessively. Of course, they have some players better than others, but their fans would not take a gulp of a strong drink if most of their nominal first choices were unavailable, save for perhaps Van Dijk and Forster. Perhaps as a pleasant side effect of consistently losing their best players is that they have built up a fine squad of solid, above-average Premier League players.
There are many reasons why Southampton manage to consistently perform well, despite their annual talent drain. But this is certainly one of them.
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