Gunners stop the rot but it Saint much of a relief
TEN-MAN Arsenal gained their first point in five Premier League matches as Southampton missed the chance to go, briefly at least, top of the table.
But Gunners manager Mikel Arteta remains under pressure as his side have now gone half-a-dozen games without victory in the top flight.
The hosts had to play the last 28 minutes without Gabriel, who was sent off in the 62nd minute for a second yellow card dished out for bringing down Theo Walcott as he broke from halfway. It was Arsenal’s third red card in five matches following dismissals for Nicolas Pepe and Granit Xhaka.
Ex-Arsenal forward Walcott gave Saints the lead against his old club in the 18th minute with a delightful dink after racing on to Che Adams’ pass.
But a surging run from Buyako Saka took him past three defenders before finding Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the striker, who scored an own goal in Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Burnley, tucked away his first goal since getting the winner against Manchester United seven matches ago.
Nathan Redmond nearly restored the Saints’ lead seven minutes later when he hit the Gunners goal frame.
Dani Ceballos had seen a penalty appeal rejected in the first half while Moussa Djenepo failed to gain a spot-kick for the visitors when he went down under Rob Holding’s challenge. Centre-half Holding then headed against the bar late on before the hosts showed composure in dealing with a Southampton attack unable to make the extra man count.
Despite the point, Arsenal remain in the bottom half, while Southampton climbed above Leicester and into third.