Arsenal may not have lost a league game at home to Southampton since 1987, but they’re not a team that they’ve had much luck against in recent seasons. Until Saturday’s fixture, the Gunners had failed to find the back of the net against the Saints in their previous 3 outings, and winning just once in their last 6 meetings. For most of the afternoon, it didn’t look like their fortunes were going to change.
With an eye on Tuesday’s Champions League match in Paris, Arsene Wenger opted to start Olivier Giroud, Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny from the bench, along with Alexis Sánchez, who would have arrived back to London late on Thursday night from international duty.
Claude Puel rewarded Jay Rodriguez with this first start of the season after his goal against Sunderland last weekend. Jordy Clasie and Ryan Bertrand were also handed starts in place of Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Matt Targett who both had solid outings against Sunderland before the international break.
Whether it was down to two debuts or a bit of a shaky start to the season, Arsenal looked unsettled in the opening gambit. Southampton boasted the majority of the possession and looked the likelier of the two to score. And it took just 18 minutes for them to find the back of the net as Dusan Tadic’s shot came awkwardly off of Petr Cech, leading to his first own goal in nearly 7 years.
Just over 10 minutes later, Arsenal found an unlikely equaliser from Laurent Koscielny. Not so much that Koscielny found the back of the net - he’s scored 20 since coming to London - but the manner in which it was executed. He had the audacity to to draw Arsenal level with an overhead kick plenty of strikers would be envious of.
With things all square, both managers opted for early changes to their attack in the second half. Shane Long, who scored a brace against Arsenal last season, was brought on for Jay Rodriguez at the interval, while Wenger gave Giroud and Sánchez a half hour to see if they could break the deadlock.
Both teams played with a lot more purpose in the second half as neither looked content to settle for a draw. Arsenal and Southampton both doubled the amount of shots they had in the opening 45 minutes, even if some of the efforts could be considered speculative at best. While it’s never easy to come up against a goalkeeper of Petr Cech’s calibre, it’s safe to say that Shane Long could have done much better with his efforts. He may have stretched their defence, but Long will be regretting his wasted opportunities in front of goal.
Deep into injury time it was a foul on the Irishman that became the match’s decisive moment. Play continued on after Long’s ankle was clipped by Nacho Monreal which inevitably ended in some grappling between Jose Fonte and Olivier Giroud. A call that could have gone either way, but on the day Bobby Madley ruled was in fact a penalty.
Deep into injury time and Arsenal had their winner via Santi Cazorla - and a big call from the referee.
If any player on the pitch deserved to score the winner, it was Santi Cazorla who had an outstanding match against Southampton. Only Shkodran Mustafi (96) attempted more passes than the Spaniard (80). Cazorla also managed 4 successful dribbles and 4 interceptions to control Arsenal’s midfield. Although he struggled with injury last season, Cazorla did manage 15 league appearances in which he registered just 3 assists. In his 4 games this season, he’s already directly contributed to more goals (4) than in the entirety next season.
Expect another big season ahead from Arsenal tiny Spaniard.
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