Albert Sambi Lokonga thanked Arsenal fans for supporting the team despite watching their side crash to their third defeat in a row and has called on them to ‘stay’ with Mikel Arteta’s men.
Saturday at St. Mary’s was not fun.
Having watched Tottenham throw away the chance to extend their lead in the top four crap-off, Arsenal knew that a win would close the gap on Spurs.
With a run of games against Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham next up for the Gunners, the importance of a win against Southampton could not be understated.
So, of course Arsenal turned up and lost, handing all three points to a side that has failed to win in all but eight of their other matches this season.
“Yeah, big thank you to the fans for travelling with us and they are always behind us so we need to say thank you to them and we need them,” Sambi Lokonga told reporters after the game.
“They need to stay behind us because we will turn this [around].
“We need to believe, I think that’s the first thing. We need to stick together. We’ve been through this so we can do it again.
“We know the plan, we know what we have to do, of course, [some of] the main players are missing but yeah, we need to give our best so we don’t feel they’re missing.
“It’s a big disappointment. I think everybody in the dressing room knows that it’s not enough for the moment but we need to stick together and get back to winning ways.
“I think we had the chances to score but the keeper played well. Today the reality is that we lost so we cannot talk too much about it.”
Arsenal travel to Chelsea on Wednesday night to face a side that put six past Saturday’s opponents and who have conceded just 23 goals all season.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have scored two goals in their last five games from 73 shots and collected just three points.