Arsenal might have instead turned into the side to surmount a two-goal deficit last night, but it proved a step too far to claim all three points as they slipped up yet again in the race for the Premier League title.

Welcoming rock-bottom Southampton to the Emirates, many thought this would be a comfortable affair in which Mikel Arteta's men would return to form after a rocky couple of recent results. However, after a sluggish start from the hosts, the visitors found themselves two goals up after just 14 minutes.

Although Gabriel Martinelli halved that deficit on 20 minutes, Duje Caleta-Car's finish reinstated their lead to 3-1 with just 24 minutes to go.

With the spirit of their late win against AFC Bournemouth maintaining belief, two goals in as many minutes drew the scores level with eight minutes of added time to play. All signs pointed towards a late winner to keep the driving seat in the fight with Manchester City, but it was not to be. Seeing penalty shouts waved away and chances spurned, the score would remain at an enthralling 3-3: a stunner for the neutral but a gut-punch for the Gunners.

With Pep Guardiola's side now boasting two games in hand and welcoming Arsenal to the Eithad on Wednesday, this could have been a crucial blunder in the race for the title.

Although Thomas Partey might receive plenty of scorn for putting in a second-straight dud of a display, last night marked one of many underwhelming performances from Rob Holding of late. The £40k-per-week man has recently proved to everyone why he is not up to the task of fighting for elite honours.

How did Rob Holding play vs Southampton?

Starting his fifth successive league match in the continued absence of William Saliba, the 27-year-old struggled to gain a foothold as the Saints pressed surprisingly high.

This led to another showing where the 95-touch defender would struggle on the ball, outlined in his 88% pass accuracy. This might seem high, but for comparison, his partner Gabriel Magalhaes maintained an accuracy of 94% and recorded a key pass, as per Sofascore.

Were he to have been a defensive stalwart throughout this game, that lack of cutting-edge might have been excused.

But instead, the former Bolton Wanderers man would make a sole defensive interaction all game, to go alongside the one time he was dribbled past. This culminated in his less-than-impressive 6.5 rating for the game, of which only two of his teammates received lower, via Sofascore.

To see his Ghanaian teammate dribbled past three times in the engine room might make Holding feel somewhat at ease for his underperformance, but at least the midfielder recorded five tackles. This was however a performance that followed up a 6.1 rating against West Ham United, exacerbating Partey's struggles as the pressure has ramped up.

Journalist Jason Soutar was somewhat sympathetic for the centre-back, although calmly outlined that he would not be good enough for the future: "Rob Holding might not have made any individual errors tonight but his presence severely weakens Arsenal. I have been saying it for a while now… we need to buy a centre-back in the summer."

With just five points separating first and second now, and the latter boasting two games in hand, their meeting on Wednesday takes on an even greater importance for Arsenal.

The hope will be that Partey can shake whatever has knocked him out of his rhythm and that Saliba can make a miraculous recovery in time. If not, it could mark a bloodbath when the unstoppable Erling Haaland faces the struggling Holding.