Theo trio blows away Saints as Welbeck weighs in with two
AT the end of a whirlwind week for Southampton they were met by a Welbeck and Walcott whirlwind of equal force as Arsenal blew them out of the FA Cup.
Danny Welbeck scored two and set up another in his first start in 265 days, while Theo Walcott netted a hat-trick against his former club.
Welbeck had only been back for three months following a 10-month lay-off with a serious injury to his left knee when he suffered a serious one to his right knee against Manchester City last May and has only managed a smattering of substitute appearances this month since making his return.
So a competition in which Premier League clubs are ever more frequently choosing to field youngsters, fringe players or those, like Welbeck, returning to fitness, provided the perfect opportunity for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to start his striker.
‘It was good to finally be back on the pitch,’ said Welbeck. ‘It’s been a horrible few months with the injury but to be back out there doing what I love and scoring goals is great.’
It would have been easy to blame the 10 changes Southampton made to the side who reached the League Cup final by beating Liverpool three days previously, but Arsenal made changes too, the key difference being that one of them was a £16million England forward.
All three of the firsthalf goals displayed different facets of his quality that Arsenal have been missing for so much of the past two years. The first, on 15 minutes was a sublime, delicate finish. Running on to a firsttime through ball from Lucas Perez — a pass that equalled the final execution — he took one touch with his right boot before poking the ball over Southampton goalkeeper Harry Lewis, who had come off his line.
The ball clipped the underside of the crossbar on its way in. Wenger was unable to orchestrate from the touchline due to his four-match ban and had to watch from the St Mary’s stand and communicate with the dugout via a black handsfree earpiece. But the goal came at the end of a vintage Arsenal 16-pass move that he could not have directed better had he been right next to the action.
Seven minutes later, Welbeck ran in behind Southampton’s defence and brought down Alex OxladeChamberlain’s long pass over the top and exquisitely sent the ball through Lewis’s legs and rolled it into the bottom left corner.
Walcott added the third, 10 minutes before the interval, but it was created by Welbeck’s awareness. Welbeck ran in behind Southampton’s defence once again but was at too tight an angle on the left to go for goal. Instead he bypassed Lewis with a low ball across and Walcott was first to it to tap in.
It was awful defensively from Southampton. Jack Stephens, the 22-year-old centre-back who was thrown into the fray at Anfield and came through so impressively in their win, smashed a clearance against Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to give away possession. When Welbeck’s ball eventually came in young left-back Sam McQueen should have been first to it to clear but waited for it to reach him and Walcott darted in.
Welbeck did not last long into the second half and was replaced by Alexis Sanchez, who pulled the ball back for Walcott to make it four. It was another trademark Arsenal move, Oxlade-Chamberlain feeding Sanchez on the right byline inside the box and he took his time before finding Walcott who found the bottom left corner.
And he completed his hat-trick with five minutes remaining, Sanchez assisting once more. The Chilean passed to Walcott, who hit a low, first-time shot into the left of goal. Were it not for Lewis making a fine save in the final few minutes of the match to deny Sanchez running through on goal it would have been six.
Afterwards Saints manager Claude Puel was unapologetic for making so many changes, saying: ‘I am responsible for the defeat. It is a difficult moment for us with all these games. We had nine players not available and I had to protect some players. It is not possible to play every three days with the same players.’
Wenger paid tribute to Welbeck, adding: ‘He has gone through some very difficult moments mentally. But his resilience was absolutely marvellous and he was rewarded tonight so we are happy.’ SOUTHAMPTON (4-3-3): Lewis 4; Martina 4, Gardos 4, Stephens 4, McQueen 4; Reed 4, Clasie 4, Hojbjerg 4; Sims 4, Long 5 (Redmond 65min, 6), Isgrove 5 (Tadic 64, 6). Subs (not used): Taylor, Yoshida, Bertrand, Davis, Romeu. ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Ospina 6; Bellerin 6.5, Mustafi 6.5, Holding 6, Gibbs 6; Oxlade-Chamberlain 7.5, MaitlandNiles 7; Walcott 8, Reine-Adelaide 7 (Iwobi 72, 7), Perez 7.5; Welbeck 8.5 (Sanchez 65, 7.5). Subs (not used): Martinez, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal. Referee: K Friend 6.