Report: Southampton 1-1 Arsenal (inc. goals)

Arsenal: Cech, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac, Alexis, Ozil, Lacazette

Subs: Ospina, Maitland-Niles, Wilshere, Iwobi, Coquelin, Welbeck, Giroud

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Olivier Giroud came off the bench to rescue a point for Arsenal as they snatched a 1-1 draw with Southampton at Saint Mary’s. The home side had looked good value for the win after a barnstorming first half that saw Charlie Austin score within two minutes, but Arsene Wenger’s men, at their most frustrating in the final third, finally battled back with three minutes remaining.

First half

Shambolic. Chaotic. Pathetic. Arsenal’s defence in the opening stages of last week’s match with Manchester United was all of the above. We lost the game inside 15 minutes and Arsene Wenger spent the week lamenting the mistakes.

You’d have expected an improvement at Saint Mary’s. If anything, this was worse. In the opening ten minutes of the first half against Southampton, the home side might have had three goals. In the end, they settled for just the one, their first chance of the match converted by Charlie Austin.

It genuinely felt like every passage of play for the home side led to a clear-cut chance. And almost all of those opportunities were the consequence of poor passing, non-existent communication and mistimed and missed challenges by Arsenal.

The tone was set inside two minutes as Mertesacker, who’d given the ball away, was left on the floor by Tadic who in no time split what was left of the defence with a reverse pass. Austin racing from deep made no mistake dinking the ball over Cech. (1-0)

Austin might have had a hat-trick inside ten minutes. First Cech spared the blushes of Koscielny and Mertesacker by diving down low to make a save. Then the offside flag came to the rescue as the Saints striker stole in again to hit Redmond’s cross onto the post.

At the other end, Arsenal were overly intricate. Surprise, surprise. There were long spells of possession as we probed in and around the box, but for all the tidy one-twos and overlapping runs, the home side were relatively comfortable.

Our first effort of note fell to Lacazette who cleverly controlled a high ball, spun on a sixpence and squeezed a shot at Forster. The France international’s movement was good (he spent plenty of time trying to call for the ball as well) but his control let him down at the end of a decent counter-attack after a Southampton corner.

Ramsey forced a fine save out of Fraser Forster and Lacazette fired over from a Bellerin cut-back as we looked for an equaliser, but each attack and poor pass, of which there were many, seemed to leave us very exposed at the back.

Xhaka was bailed out by Cech who nearly put the ball in his own net after a Ward-Prowse cross was kept in at the back post. Our veteran keeper, seemingly aware of the lack of pace in front of him, was effectively a sweeper at times often clearing up outside his box. It wasn’t good for the nerves.

Second half

It was much of the same after the break. Arsenal huffed and puffed in the final third looking to score the perfect goal. The industrious Ramsey dragged an effort wide, Kolasinac repeatedly got behind the Saints defence but couldn’t deliver a decisive pass, Sanchez kept giving the ball away. All pretty standard.

In response, the Saints looked to Redmond and Tadic on the break although it was Romeu who came closest to doubling the lead with a rocket that clipped Cech’s bar.

Arsene Wenger hauled off Mertesacker to make room for Welbeck. To be honest, we looked no more solid at the back as Koscielny got himself into a mess and laid a chance on a plate for Redmond. Thankfully, the winger put the ball wide with only Cech to beat.

Wilshere replaced Xhaka and Giroud replaced Lacazette. Not much changed initially until, with three minutes to go, Sanchez clipped in a delightful ball and the French substitute deftly glanced a header past Forster. It was tough to suggest it was deserved. But beggars can’t be choosers. (1-1)

Both sides pressed for a winner in stoppage time, but in the end it was spoils shared. The result takes Arsenal to 29 points and back above Spurs into fifth.