Arsenal narrowly missed out on Champions League football last season and as a consequence have to play Thursday nights in the Europa League this term.

 

The Gunners have now played Thursday to Sunday football for three successive weeks and they won all of their match in that period, expect this weekend against Southampton, which was a 1-1 draw.

 

 

For Kerr, it is proof that Arsenal are experiencing a bit of fatigue from playing Thursday into Sunday and remarked that several of the Gunners players looked below par against Southampton.

 

He pointed out that aside from the players who have not been playing in midweek games, the rest looked a bit off the pace, especially in the second half when they conceded the equaliser.

 

 

Speaking on Off The Ball post-match, Kerr said: “I think today we saw a little bit of the effect of the Sunday-Thursday situation.

 

“I didn’t think [Bukayo] Saka was at his best, he’s starting towards the right, the manager has juggled about towards the night games, he generally plays five of what you consider his best starting eleven, which was probably on the pitch today.

 

 

“But there was little signs of [Gabriel] Martinelli, Saka not being at their best, [Gabriel] Jesus maybe took a bit of a battering today, though he’s protected a lot of the time.

 

“Saka in the middle of the field has been playing, [Martin] Odegaard hasn’t been playing in the Europa League games, [Thomas] Partey hasn’t been playing.

 

“Partey has played very little in midweek games because he’s got an injury record, he’s not played more than 25 games a season in the last few seasons.

 

“So the others they have juggling around and I think you could see signs of that today.

 

“In the second half they dropped off the level we have seen with them.”

 

Arsenal have five games to go before the World Cup break, which includes two Europa League games to be played on Thursdays in the coming weeks.

 

After playing in midweek in the Europa League, Arsenal will take on recent Liverpool-conquerors Nottingham Forest first and then London rivals Chelsea the weekend after that.