Southampton vs Arsenal: Arteta Responds To Neville...

Southampton vs Arsenal: Arteta Responds To Neville's Criticism Of EPL Strugglers' Defenders

In what seemed a response to Gary Neville's recent criticism of Arsenal defenders, manager Mikel Arteta says the Gunners are handicapped to recruit alternatives to the defenders currently in their ranks.

AllNews reports that Neville had stated that Arsenal's defence cannot be trusted after successive losses to Manchester City and relegation battlers Brighton all but ended Arsenal’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

This evening, behind-closed-doors, they confront Southampton at St Mary's Stadium.

The 13-time Premier League champions are languishing in eleventh place in the Premier League, but Arteta dismissed the idea his current crop of players needed to leave the club.

Speaking at his press conference ahead of the Southampton game, Arteta said: "At the moment, we cannot do anything.

"At the moment we are playing with the players we have.

"My job is to make them as good as possible. They are players that have kept a lot of clean sheets under me, they’ve been undefeated for 12 games and they’ve done really, really well.

"So, I don’t like to judge players when they lose but I know overall where can we strengthen the team but as well that we have some players that very valuable.

"They have been performing under me really, really well and I trust them."

The Emirates club are 11 points off fourth-placed Chelsea.