Gunners display grit and are able to make a point
ARSENAL f i nally displayed some fighting spirit as they battled back to earn a point against high-flying Southampton at the Emirates.
Disciplinary problems persist for Mikel Arteta’s side, however, with the Gunners finishing their second consecutive game with ten men following Gabriel’s foolish red card.
But the fact they stood firm against the well- drilled Saints will encourage Arteta following a dreadful r un of t hr e e consecutive top-flight defeats.
Theo Walcott — on his return to north London — threatened to plunge his former team-mates i nto a deeper crisis with a well-taken first-half strike.
But Arsenal clawed their way back; Pierre - Emerick Aubameyang ending his goal drought to salvage what could be one of the club’s most important results of the season.
‘We shot ourselves in the foot again, it’s difficult to compete when you are down to ten men,’ said Arteta. ‘ But we showed resilience and character to hang in there against a dangerous team. We showed how much we wanted it.’
Saints led after 18 minutes, Walcott blazing past Rob Holding before chipping Che Adams’ pass over Bernd Leno.
Arsenal appeared toothless until finally, in the 52nd minute, Bukayo Saka thrust towards goal from the left touchline, beating three Saints defenders in the process. His pass into Eddie Nketiah was intricate and the Arsenal forward’s subsequent flick found Aubameyang who made no mistake, scoring his first Premier League goal from open play since the opening-day win over Fulham.
But just as they were in the ascendancy, Arsenal’s disciplinary problems struck again.
Gabriel had already picked up a booking just four minutes earlier for kicking the ball away, so why he felt it necessary to grab Walcott’s shoulder in midfield to pick up a second yellow card was beyond anyone.
Despite failing to cash in on their numerical advantage, Saints boss Ralph Hassenhuttl said: ‘It was about how much risk we wanted to take — but it’s always dangerous to take too much risk because we could concede on the counter-attack.’