diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/70437-ssh-args.yml b/changelogs/fragments/70437-ssh-args.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3a1af9d5612
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/70437-ssh-args.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - >
+    ssh connection plugin - use ``get_option()`` rather than ``_play_context`` to
+    ensure ``ANSBILE_SSH_ARGS`` are applied properly (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/70437)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
index 924604421b1..ed44a035fe0 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
@@ -611,9 +611,10 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
         # Next, we add [ssh_connection]ssh_args from ansible.cfg.
         #
 
-        if self._play_context.ssh_args:
+        ssh_args = self.get_option('ssh_args')
+        if ssh_args:
             b_args = [to_bytes(a, errors='surrogate_or_strict') for a in
-                      self._split_ssh_args(self._play_context.ssh_args)]
+                      self._split_ssh_args(ssh_args)]
             self._add_args(b_command, b_args, u"ansible.cfg set ssh_args")
 
         # Now we add various arguments controlled by configuration file settings