Mikel Arteta on Fabio Vieira’s Struggles vs Southampton

Mikel Arteta insists a lack of playing opportunities contributed to Fabio Vieira’s woeful performance against Southampton on Friday night. The summer signing from Porto was handed a rare starting opportunity in the Premier League after Granit Xhaka was forced to pull out of the game due to illness. Vieira struggled to come anywhere close to exerting the sort of influence that Xhaka has for the majority of the season at the heart of Arsenal’s engine room and was largely anonymous during the opening 45 minutes. The Portugal Under-21 international was hooked shortly before the hour mark and replaced by Leandro Trossard as Arteta attempted to find a way back into a game that his side eventually drew 3-3 thanks to a spirited late comeback. Asked why Vieira, a £34million signing, endured such a difficult evening, Arteta said: ‘It was a difficult match for a lot of players but for Fabio, he hasn’t played enough minutes. He had good periods but the way the game starts as well, instead of going one or two-nil up, and everything goes in your favour, it starts to go in a much more difficult way. That doesn’t help.’ Despite late goals from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka, the mood at the final whistle was one of frustration as the Gunners surrendered yet more momentum in the title race. Arteta has encouraged his players to raise themselves and deliver the performance of their lives when they face Manchester City at the Etihad on Wednesday, saying: ‘Absolutely, enjoy it. To enjoy the moment we are in, to enjoy the position we are in and to play every single ball with that emotion and that purpose, which is what I see every day in what they do. I don’t see the lack of confidence when a team is able to do that [what we did tonight]. Normally the players start to hide in certain moments – I didn’t see a single player do that, they were willing to take risks, to take the initiative. That’s why we created the chances we created, that’s why we got back to 3-3 from 3-1 and should have won the game. So, the confidence is there, it’s those moments that we need to cut back. At this level, we cannot give away the goals that we have given. It’s as simple as that.’