Keeper in a pitch battle
Saint stroll for gunners sends Hasenhuttl back to where he started
STAR REFUSES TO BE SUBBED AS CITY WIN:
UNAI EMERY has not had enough good, stress- free weeks like this one recently.
Not since earlier in the season when his new side strung together that optimism-raising 22-game unbeaten run.
It was Southampton who ended that sequence in mid-December to knock the Gunners off their stride.
Since then, rediscovering that consistency has proved a struggle. At least his latest week went to plan.
Two games, successive wins for just the second time since that loss at St Mary’s, two clean sheets, five goals, through to the Europa League last-16 and back in the top four. Job done.
Goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the first 17 minutes lifted Arsenal back above Manchester United into fourth.
It was a routine win and when things threatened to get a little nervy, Emery was able to give World Cup winner Mesut Ozil a half-hour run out to restore a bit of composure. Not a bad sub to be able to call on. Nice work if you can get it for £350,000-a-week Ozil.
And when your only real complaint as a manager is your team did not win by more you know you have had a decent day.
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl must only wish he was in such a fortunate position after watching his sloppy side lose again and pay the price for more poor defending.
The steady climb to safety that looked a real possibility when Southampton stunned the Gunners in the Austrian’s first home game has not materialised.
Back-to-back defeats and a fourgame winless run have left them third bottom. Exactly where they
were when he was appointed. And after they host Fulham on Wednesday, there is a trip to Manchester United followed by a visit from Tottenham.
Hasenhuttl had two weeks since Southampton’s lastgasp loss to relegation rivals Cardiff, a break which included warm-weather training in Tenerife, to hatch a plan for Arsenal.
The one he came up with involved dropping keeper Alex McCar thy and
Ryan Bertrand to the bench and axing Shane Long altogether.
Angus Gunn replaced McCarthy in a team that started without a recognised striker.
Hasenhuttl’s plotting was undone just six minutes in after a passage of play that highlighted football’s fine margins. In the fifth minute Nathan Redmond raced onto Jan Bednarek’s pass but his shot was smothered by the onrushing Bernd Leno. Seconds later Gunn was picking the ball out of his net, Arsenal having launched a swift counter. Southampton failed to cut out Alex Iwobi’s cross and Mkhitaryan’s shot was diverted in by Lacazette, the Frenchman being played onside by Bednarek and Jannik Vestegaard.
In i t i al ly the visitors’ confidence was not dented and they responded by creating chances Stuart Armstrong and Matt Targett were unable to take. But again they were caught cold in the 17th minute and conceded a self-inflicted second.
Jack Stephens dallied on the ball just outside his own box and put Gunn in trouble with a poor back pass. The keeper could only find Iwobi, who crossed again for Mkhitaryan and this time he buried his chance. With a two- goal cushion Arsenal al started to enjoy an afternoon - stroll in the sun and d should have been at least t
3- 0 up at half- time, but t Lacazette was denied twice e by Gunn and skied a third d chance well over.
With his team in danger of being overrun, Hasenhuttl ttl made changes at the break, ak, bringing on Charlie Austin and Michael Obafemi, who later ater limped off with a hamstring g iner’s injury much to his manager’s frustration, and went to a 4-4-2. 4- 2.
Arsenal initially struggled d to get to grips with Saints’ new setfired setup. James Ward-Prowse fired wide after Granit Xhaka gifted him possession, while Austin in had a looping header saved by Leno.
But Ozil’s introduction helped Arsenal regain control and d they finished the game looking more likely to add to their tally y than concede, Pier re- Emerick eri ck Aubameyang twice going close. lose.