Arsenal pay the price for living on the edge
Saints earn a well-deserved point
FOR just the second time this season, Arsenal dropped points in the Premier League. For the fourth time in as many games, however, Mikel Arteta’s side flirted with danger. And as the heavens opened over St Mary’s, comeuppance came calling at last.
One-nil to the Arsenal. That famous ballad has become something of a soundtrack to recent weeks. Here, they were on course for a fourth straight 1-0 victory before Southampton battled back to earn a point they deserved.
Just as against Leeds last week, Arsenal could have been out of sight at half-time. Again, they surrendered the initiative. The only difference was, Southampton made them pay.
The diagnosis is hardly terminal. Arteta’s side are top of the Premier League, two points clear of Manchester City. They are unbeaten in nine matches, winning eight on the spin before this. Hardly cause to sound the alarm.
But the drop- off was striking. Not for the first time, Arteta’s side wore the signs of a side starting to feel the Sunday-Thursday schedule. Southampton sensed as much and, having clung on during the first half thanks in large part to goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side turned the tide.
In the end, this match swung on five minutes bookended by two pieces of brilliance by Mohamed Elyounoussi. With nearly an hour gone and Arsenal leading 1-0, Gabriel Jesus won the ball and raced in behind. Martin Odegaard fed his striker, who drove at goal, only to be denied by a desperate, last-ditch lunge by Elyounoussi.
It was one of a number of chances for the striker, who has now gone five games without a goal. This one proved particularly costly.
Elyounoussi had spent most of this afternoon as an auxiliary full back but after a slick move, the winger made his mark at the other end. He picked up the ball, drove at Takehiro Tomiyasu, cut inside and picked out a delicious reverse pass for Stuart Armstrong to score.
That capped what could prove a pivotal week for Southampton. And for Hasenhuttl in particular. He had been staring down the barrel but after two home draws, either side of victory at Bournemouth, his side are now three points above the drop-zone.
It seemed their hard work would be undone when Kieran Tierney drove to the byline and fed Odegaard to score. Alas, the ball had rolled just out of play and so Arsenal were forced to settle for a first draw in 31 matches. That was in January and it is a mark of the progress Arsenal have made since then — and since their last visit here when defeat proved costly in the top-four race — that these dropped points feel so significant.
‘No complaints. This is football. We were really good in the first half and controlled totally the game, we created loads of big chances that we didn’t put away,’ said Arteta. ‘In the second half we put ourselves in problems.’ Xhaka took his goal superbly, guiding home a half-volley on his wrong foot, just as he did against PSV Eindhoven on Thursday. As Arsenal went from back to front, Southampton did little more than wave them through.
It began with Aaron Ramsdale feeding Thomas Partey, who spent most of the first quarter in his own postcode. He was allowed to turn and find Ben White. The right back exchanged passes with Bukayo Saka and then picked out Xhaka. A goal had been coming. Arsenal flew out of the blocks once more and could have had a couple before Xhaka’s opener. Gabriel came close to turning home Saka’s cross, Xhaka had a shot saved and later laid on a glorious opening for Odegaard, only for the captain to drag his shot wide.
Southampton looked frazzled, unsure whether to press or contain
Arsenal. For a while they did neither. For a time, wingers Adam and Stuart Armstrong were so deep the home side had a flat back six. Jesus forced another smart save out of Bazunu from Odegaard’s scooped pass. The striker also demanded a penalty after tangling with Duje Caleta-Car.
Arteta refused to criticise the officials. Or his lack of squad depth during such a punishing run.
‘I don’t like to have excuses,’ he said. ‘ We could have won
comfortably and it’s down to us. We stopped doing the simple things right.’
That snowball began to gather pace after the break. Among the initial signs that things weren’t quite right was a loose pass from William Saliba which went straight to Adam Armstrong.
The forward wasted the chance but Hasenhuttl said afterwards: ‘The first mistake from Saliba was the moment we thought, “OK, now we can go a bit earlier and give a little bit more pressure”.
‘In the end we had the feeling we had them a little bit on the ropes. They had 24 hours less to recover, maybe that was the reason we had a little bit more in the tank at the end and could push a bit harder.’
Their reward came with 25 minutes to go. Arsenal were cut open initially by a brilliant dummy from Joe Aribo before Elyounoussi and Stuart Armstrong combined, minutes after Jesus had missed another chance to cement victory.