Nigel Winterburn: Scrap for Champions League qualification still up for grabs

Former Arsenal full-back Nigel Winterburn insists Saturday's trip to Southampton is a must-win game for the Gunners as they bid to bounce back from back-to-back defeats.

Arsenal supporters have been starved of Champions League football since 2017 and Premier League losses against Crystal Palace and Brighton have seen them relinquish their place in the top four to fierce rivals Tottenham.

Mikel Arteta's men find themselves in fifth place with eight fixtures still to play, three points shy of Spurs with a match in hand.

When asked about Arsenal's Champions League qualification hopes, Winterburn told freesupertips.com: "The last two results and performances were poor if I'm honest.

"Mikel Arteta and the team need to respond quickly, starting with the weekend's game with Southampton.

"It's hard to know why those results happen, you could say there was some disruption with the Brighton game, but the Crystal Palace performance was so disappointing.

"It wasn't competitive from the very start; they didn't get into the game and Crystal Palace completely bossed Arsenal throughout.

"I didn't see it coming, the results have been consistent and good on the whole.

"To add to it, Arsenal picked up a couple of big injuries to important players and I just think it was the hangover of the Crystal Palace game into the Brighton fixture."

Winterburn wants to see a positive response from his former team and is intrigued to see what team and tactics Arteta deploys at St Mary's.

"Arsenal now need to get back to the levels they were at before these past two games and it'll be interesting to see what selection and formation they choose at the weekend.

"If we win our game in hand we're back level and we need to play Tottenham, so it's still up for grabs.

"I've said all along that all teams would drop points between now and the end of the season and I still believe that.

"It's going to come down to consistency, Arsenal have had a big setback with those two defeats whereas Tottenham have pounced on that.

"I like to think Arsenal are still there and will still be there, but we've handed back the initiative to the other teams going for fourth place.

"I'm just waiting to see how Arsenal respond to those defeats at the weekend and it's a crucial game against Southampton before we look at anything else."

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