PHEW! HEAT’S OFF ARSENAL
Fast Eddie lifts Arteta’s spirits
ON THE hottest day of 2020, Arsenal were made to sweat but finally their Project Restart campaign has lift-off. It wasn’t pretty, Eddie Nketiah’s freak first-half goal illustrative of this cluttered game played out in the sweltering June heat.
Not that Mikel Arteta gave a damn. After two straight defeats, this victory was a necessity and the manner of it didn’t matter.
By the time Joe Willock eased any late apprehension, Southampton were down to 10 men after Jack Stephens was sent off for trying to retrieve team-mate Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s error.
For the time being, Arsenal can continue to dream of Champions League qualification.
But in his heart, manager Arteta knows this victory will only serve as a temporary respite to the problems he faces in trying to return the Gunners to the top table of European football.
Arteta made four changes at St Mary’s. Most notably, Matteo Guendouzi was axed from the squad following his questionable antics during the loss to Brighton on Saturday.
The Arsenal manager defended his young Frenchman in public during the week, but actions speak louder than words. Granit Xhaka, having recovered from an ankle injury, was back in the starting XI as Arteta shuffled his pack.
No such decisions for Ralph Hasenhuttl. No changes; why would he after last week’s 3-0 cruise at Norwich?
That magical 40-point mark was Southampton’s target here — a perhaps unthinkable achievement after the embarrassing 9-0 loss to Leicester in October.
Credit to Hasenhuttl, though, for having the pluckiness to reverse a slide that once showed little sign of halting. Also, credit to the Saints board for refusing to pull the trigger and instead backing their man.
This loss was a relatively minor blow considering their problems earlier in the season.
Arsenal made the early running and Nketiah had the ball in the net after eight minutes following Bukayo Saka’s square pass, but his tap-in was correctly disallowed for offside. Two minutes later, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang crashed an angled effort off the bar following Kieran Tierney’s beautifully flighted pass that unlocked the Saints with worrying ease.
Yet there was nothing easy on the eye about Arsenal’s opening goal. Fair play to Nketiah for putting in the hard yards to close down goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, who was on the edge of his area to collect a routine backpass from Jan Bednarek. McCarthy did not need to take a touch, but he did. Moments later he was wishing he hadn’t as his attempted clearance was charged down by Nketiah, who tapped into an empty net to score his third Premier League goal.
Apart from a misdirected Ryan Bertrand effort after Danny Ings had brilliantly set him up, Southampton weren’t at the races.
They were fortunate not to fall 2-0 behind on the stroke of half-time when Nketiah misfired after Nicolas Pepe put him through on goal.
The positive for Southampton was that Arsenal weren’t home and hosed, while the Gunners’ capitulation after going 1-0 ahead against Brighton last weekend was a source of encouragement.
And Southampton sprung out of the blocks, Stuart Armstrong forcing Emiliano Martinez, who was starting his first Premier League game since 2014 in place of injured No 1 Bernd Leno, into his first save of the game.
It was clear which way the wind was blowing. Ings fired a volley over in the 63rd minute when he should have hit the target before Nathan Redmond’s’ half-volley rippled the side-netting 11 minutes later.
Momentum was gathering but as the match entered its closing stages, Hasenhuttl was still waiting for a clear-cut opening.
The big moment arrived in the 78th minute when Stephens’ pass over the top unlocked the Arsenal defence, but substitute Shane Long was denied by Martinez, who parried a shot arrowing towards the bottom corner.
That was that for the Saints. Stephens’ red card denied Aubameyang a clear goalscoring opportunity in the 84th minute as he lunged desperately to retrieve Hojbjerg’s wayward backpass.
From the free-kick, Willock tapped home after McCarthy had parried Alexandre Lacazette’s effort from the edge of the box.
SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): McCarthy 5; Valery 5 (Walker-Peters 46min, 6.5), Stephens 5.5, Bednarek 5.5, Bertrand 6; Redmond 6.5, Hojbjerg 6.5 (Vestergaard 90), Ward-Prowse 6.5, Armstrong 6.5; Obafemi 5 (Long 46, 6), Ings 6.5 (Romeu 90). Subs not used: Gunn, Adams, Smallbone, Vokins, Tella. Sent off: Stephens. Manager: Ralph Hasenhuttl 6. ARSENAL (4-3-3): Martinez 7; Bellerin 6, Holding 7, Mustafi 7, Tierney 7.5 (Kolasinac 70); XHAKA 8, Ceballos 6.5 (Maitland-Niles 80), Saka 7; Pepe 6.5 (Willock 64, 6), Nketiah 7 (Lacazette 79), Aubameyang 6.5. Subs not used: Macey, Sokratis, Ozil, Nelson, Smith. Scorers: Nketiah 20, Willock 86. Booked: Mustafi, Saka. Manager: Mikel Arteta 7.5. Referee: Graham Scott 6.5.