Arsenal laboured to a 2-0 defeat at home to fellow Premier League outfit Southampton in the quarter-finals of the League Cup on Wednesday.

Goals from Jordy Clasie and Ryan Bertrand deservedly saw Claude Puel’s side into the last four, and ended the Gunners’ 20-match unbeaten run in all competitions, which did date back to their 4-3 defeat against Liverpool on the opening weekend of the season.

It means that manager Arsene Wenger’s wait for a League Cup triumph goes on, as the 67-year-old has yet to win the competition since taking over in North London back in 1996.

However, it wasn’t just the result which displeased Arsenal fans, it was also the abject performance Wenger’s side produced which angered many.

The Gunners boss made ten changes to the side that beat Bournemouth 3-1 on Sunday, with only Mohamed Elneny keeping his place, but several of them did their chances of starting against West Ham on Saturday no favours at the Emirates on Wednesday night.

And, with an important game against Slaven Bilic’s side coming up at the weekend, Wenger will hope that a return to league action, where they have won eight of their last 12 games, will help forget Wednesday’s display against the Saints.

Many fringe players got an opportunity to prove their worth to the Gunners boss on Wednesday, yet here are THREE who should be dropped from that starting eleven on Saturday…

Carl Jenkinson

The majority of Southampton’s attacking threat came down the Arsenal right last night, and Carl Jenkinson had a torrid evening trying to deal with it.

The 24-year-old had a chance to stake a claim for a first team spot due to the injury to first-choice right-back Hector Bellerin, and indeed back-up Mathieu Debuchy, yet he all but ended his Gunners career with an abject display.

The first Saints goal came from Ryan Bertrand’s low cross from the left, which arguably Jenkinson should have closed down better, and then the Gunners full-back lost possession and didn’t recover quick enough to prevent Sofiane Boufal’s cross finding Bertrand for the second.

A testing evening that surely suggests that the 24-year-old is not up to the right-back role at the Emirates.

Kieran Gibbs

With Nacho Monreal having struggled a bit in recent Premier League games, Kieran Gibbs had a real chance against Southampton to put pressure on the Spaniard in the fight for the left-back role.

Wenger even gave him the captaincy to try and reinvigorate the 27-year-old, but he produced a disappointing display in what was a bad night for Arsenal.

The England international didn’t get involved much going forward and, although he was far from the worst Arsenal defender on the night, he didn’t do enough to warrant ousting Monreal against West Ham on Saturday.

Aaron Ramsey

Aaron Ramsey made his Premier League return to the Arsenal starting line-up against Manchester United two weeks ago, and struggled to have much of an impact at Old Trafford.

Slightly more game time since then, and you would have thought that a quality player like the Welsh international would be beginning to get back to a high level, yet he was another poor performer for the Gunners against Southampton.

With Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil, and Alex Iwobi the regular league starters in those three attacking positions at present, Ramsey hasn’t done enough to force his way back into the side, and should lose his place at the London Stadium this weekend.