Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Chambers, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Elneny, Xhaka, Iwobi, Nelson, Welbeck, Aubameyang.
Subs: Macey, Holding, Monreal, Wilshere, Ozil, Lacazette, Nketiah
—
Two goals from Danny Welbeck and one from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Arsenal a 3-2 win over Southampton at the Emirates this afternoon, in a game which saw both sides finish with ten men.
Arsene Wenger rotated his squad after Thursday’s 4-1 win over CSKA Moscow, with 7 changes in all – including a first Premier League start for highly-rated youngster Reiss Nelson.
Despite lots of early possession for Arsene Wenger’s men, it was the visitors who had the first sight of goal, Bellerin clearing from just in front of the line after a Chambers miskick had allowed Long to set up Romeu. The Irishman was almost through again, as the defence was undone by a simple hoof from the back but a sly tug on the shirt from Chambers halted his momentum sufficiently to lessen the danger.
These were warning signs so it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Long put the Saints ahead. Mustafi was caught on his heels as the cross came to the near post, and the man who had scored just once in his previous 47 games poked home to make it 0-1. It was terrible from the German, to say the least.
Arsenal got the 28th minute without even an attempt on goal but with their first of the match they were level. The ball was worked it nicely through the middle, came into Welbeck, he flicked it towards Aubameyang who poked it home for 1-1.
Xhaka curled a free kick wide after Welbeck had been fouled just outside the box, and in the 27th minute we were ahead. Iwobi fed Welbeck down the inside left channel, he drove infield, got to the edge of the box and his shot deflected off Yoshida and into the net to make it 2-1.
It was a good response from the Gunners and they took the one goal lead into the break, during which there were no changes from either manager.
Arsenal had the first two chances of the second period, Aubameyang forcing McCarthy into a save after nice play from Iwobi, and the Saints keeper kept his side in the game moments later with an excellent stop from a low Xhaka effort that was going inside the post.
Iwobi was next to test McCarthy, the keeper palming a goalbound effort around the post, while at the other end Petr Cech was equal to a Hojberg shot from distance which forced him to get down quickly.
Elneny cleared off the line after Hoedt’s header from a corner almost brought Southampton an equaliser, Cech had to save from Long whose header was going in at the near post, and the Irish international had the ball in the net but was rightly given offside as he deflected a low shot past the Arsenal keeper.
Arsene Wenger brought on Jack Wilshere for Nelson in the 64th minute, Cech saved again from Hoedt after Welbeck last the ball in a dangerous area, and Alexandre Lacazette replaced Aubameyang in the 72nd minute.
The Saints were very much in the game, and got back level in the 74th minute through substitute Charlie Austin who had only been on the pitch a few seconds. It was more terrible defending, Wilshere got left for dust, Chambers was roasted, Mustafi was nowhere near Austin who poked home from close range, 2-2.
Arsenal should have gone ahead again in the 77th minute but instead Welbeck missed a golden chance. Great work from Iwobi saw him cross to the back post, Wilshere hooked it back across and somehow the striker put it over the bar from 4 yards out.
The England man made up for it just five minutes later, putting Arsenal ahead. Again, it came from great work by Iwobi, he crossed it to the back post, Welbeck was there at the back post to head home. 3-2.
The visitors pressed for a goal to help them with their relegation dogfight, and they weren’t helped by a red card for Jack Stephens in a clash with Wilshere who was booked, and amazingly Elneny was also sent off for a push in the aftermath and he’ll miss three games for violent conduct.
It was a tempestuous end to the game, but the victory makes it six wins from six for the Gunners and we got into Thursday’s Europa League game with another win under our belts.
That was a great game if you’re a neutral. I wish Arsenal would just make things simple once in a while.
Where has this Welbeck been. Mustafi had a very worrying bad day at the office and shows clearly that he lacks leadership attributes and wilshere is not helping his contract situation with these kind of performances.
maybe wilshere wants to get away, and who could blame him
Wilshere is too inconsistent coupled with injuries.
so is ozil
Twit
Idiot
Welbeck is….very Wellbeck. I was screaming so hard my baby sitting on my lap got startled when he missed a gaping goal from that nice Wilshere flick back.
What , you mean scoring 2 and getting an assist in a 3-2 win for his team ? In that case , good thing He is so very Wellbeck ……
Lmao, my baby got the same treatment. Never seen him so startled.
Love Jack but he was terrible. Needed a rest, not a run out.
guys…look at the third goal again. Jack pushes the player in front of Welbeck away. Before that he had hooked the ball across goal which Welbeck missed. Then he got a player sent off. Jack does the ugly stuff that we were missing. He puts himself on the line for Arsenal, not for a contract.
So his main qualities are pushing players and get them send off? Guess we can find someone willing to do that for 80.000 plus incentives per week.
Surely you know that will never happen
Mustafi-Consistently inconsistent.
I’m not sure I concur with that. It feels like it’s about 1 good game for every 4 or 5 crap ones.
predictably inpredictable
He is 25 or 26 , can put in a good performance in some games , but needs to learn more composure when facing danger in the area ….. not to be written off
If Elneny’s push was a red card then I’m surprised anyone was left on the pitch after that brawl. Ridiculous officiating from Andre Marriner, yet again.
Suggestions from the pundits I saw is that it was a verbal thing and not the push. I guess we’ll find out.
Wilshire pulling the shirt of Stephens was pathetic!
Elneny can hardly speak english properly so i wonder what he could have said.
Maybe he said pick the ball but the ref heard he is a pig ?
I’m hoping it was Victorian style insults. For example:
“Right you rapscallious band of flapdoodles, back off or else!”
“I say referee, that was a fozzlers decision if ever I saw one. If I didn’t know better I’d have you for a Hornswoggler!”
“Sir I’ll have you know that it was actually that jollocks Stephens who instigated it by a rascals elbow to the midfrift of our boy Jack.”
And as the refs brain started to melt from Elneny’s eloquence he pulled out his red card.
I understand the rules but it just baffles me why stuff like Pogba making zero attempt to do anything but take a player out from behind like yesterday or Jack doing what he did today only merits a yellow while if the opposing player reacts its a red. The punishment should be the same for both.
Stephen was alresdy on a huge warning after the Welbeck incident
So give him a yellow then – Jack spent 20 yards trying to tear the guy’s shirt off and then stands up like a tough guy after the guy retaliates. It’s a part of Jack’s game I severely dislike as it’s not the first time this season he’s gone after someone. A hard tackle is one thing but Jack is our one player who just crosses over to dirty – hate to see that from an Arsenal player.
I’m sorry but the only way a shirt tug deserves a straight red is if you’re stopping a goal scoring opportunity. The yellow card was the right decision
Sure but then give the other guy a yellow as well. Jack did nothing but go after the player off the ball
Stephens placed his hands in a violent way into wilsheres neck/head.
That is violent conduct and if Jack was a copper Stephens would be in the cells tonight.
Jack is starting to annoy me. He spends half the time on the floor,defends poorly,misplaces passes and then pulls someone’s shirt off. He is not the player I used to enjoy watching. Southgate would be mad to take him to the World Cup.
Got to appeal that card.It was happening all over the pitch.
That sneaky Tadic putting studs in regularly should have been red carded.
both teams should appeal those red cards. Absolutely nothing in either one of them. Wilshere was tugging the guy’s shirt for about 30 secs because he can’t run any more so he deserved a little push after that.
Why did we take PEA off when this is the only competition he can play in? made little sense but at least we got the 3 points.
My thoughts exactly about Auba especially as he and Laccazette combined so well against Stoke
Maybe that tosser Mike Dean put a word in Marriner’s ear from the touch line
Mike Dean is a cunt!
Marriner is a weak referee–not biased, but has trouble controlling games. Like Atkinson, he lets a lot of things go, but unlike Atkinson, he does not seem to have the players’ respect, so they regularly step over the line. Tadic caught an Arsenal player with his studs up high early in the match, then did it again later (neither looked very malicious–just Tadic being reckless). Neither was whistled for a foul, let alone cautioned.
Remember, this is the guy who couldn’t tell the difference between Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and would not accept the players’ explaining it to him.
Southampton played well and probably deserved a draw, though we should have been a lot better, even with our second team. My Saints friend before the match said it was a cowardly team selection, a defensive team with a non-scorer, Long, up- front. However, if they had played like that in other matches I’m sure they wouldn’t be in grave danger of relegation.
Cech and Mustafi were poor for the first goal. Nelson did well, Iwobi and Welbeck pretty good with goals/assists. Despite the worst miss ever by Welbeck.
Very open match so entertaining and glad we won.
Game could have been 4-1 or 5-1 , mustafi mistake and 3or 4 good chances , that’s football …
Wilshere playing himself out of a contract
Playing like someone who is going on a Bosman
Playing like a guy that will be starting for Stoke next year.
Could be the next Charlie Adam?
Nah, he’s much too good for the Championship. West Ham – if they stay up.
The next Julian Dicks then
Say what you will about Wilshere but his shove on Cedric to give Welbz a free header was pivotal, and the shirt rip was provoked by several sly elbows in the face, i suggest having a double take. All that being said, he’s clearly got some off field distractions at the moment.
He came on and defended his team mates, Tadic was the real dirty player today. It was a niggly game and Jack is a true Arsenal blood, credit to Iwobi on that note for a fine footballing 2nd half.
He’s low in confidence, when on his game he’s much more instinctual (and thus decisive), like when he put it on a plate for what should have been Welbeck’s game winner. He’s thinking too much on the ball and not thinking enough off it.
Jack looked drunken
dont start hating on Jack now. He did what he could to close out the game. He hooked a ball across goal, for the simplest of chances. He then pushed a player out of the way from in front of Welbeck, helping him score the winner. He then got stuck in committing professional fouls and disrupted Southampton to such an extent, that they lost their rag and got a red card. jack managed the game. Sure he has his limitations, but he isnt showboating for his personal benefit like most others did.
That was a pretty cuntish move from jack tbh.
Elbows
So elbow back or something else that’s sneaky. Don’t start pulling the shirts as if you’re a dog in heat trying to fuck the bloke.
Lol fair call, but hey, he stayed on the pitch didn’t he
Haha, yeah!
Fuck off, “Jack took some elbows to the face so he should of elbowed the guy back in the face, instead of holding on to the guy stopping him from running”
Since when did our fans decide it was OK to strike opponents violently?
Were meant to have class aren’t we?
Frankly, Jack was a train wreck. Nice to grind out the points, though not relishing missing Elneny next game. Thought he was the heart today.
Elneny was my Man of the match on his all round game and last ditch defending ….
Great win. Great to see Reis get some minutes. I realize this will get a lot of downvotes due to how many love Jack but it’s time to start thinking about whether Mo should start in the European games. Jack has put together a run of pretty poor games and today was by far the worst. He gave the ball away with virtually every touch (although his cross to Welbeck was good) and that shirt ripping / pushing that led to the red card was just flat out stupid. Either Jack should have been sent off for that or their… Read more »
Jack Wilshere is a f*ckin disgrace. I hope Arsenal pull the contract offer after that performance.
why don’t you say that about ozil who shit every week
You’ve got a point there, if Ozil only takes one shit a week, that’s incredibly irresponsible. Not good for your health at all.
Not everyone is so blessed in the shitting department as Afan who only needs to open his mouth for it to come flowing as if he’s an enema on legs.
Idiot
Wilshere and Wenger deserve each other.
There are a couple of people who just cannot stop themselves:
“The traffic around the stadium was terrible today.”
“Yeah, I hope Wenger got stuck in it.”
This over-sensitivity to any mention of Arsene is why so many stopped caring about disrespecting him.
For me, both men symbolise the lost decade of wasted potential at the club. Just an observation.
Enjoyable game, loved it. But really Mustafi needs to be dropped. How is he better than Chambers or Holding?
Sometimes he is better but certainly not today
Decent stopper but can’t read the game well enough to be the sweeper. Needs Kos or even Holding behind him so he can go balls out to head stuff away.
The commentator sumd him up pretty well. A player with vast experienced but somehow makes silly decisiond
Almost always he is better–but when he is bad, he is really bad.
Unfortunately both Chambers and Holding haven’t exactly been imressive today either.
But Blogs said it pretty good in one of his recent podcats: “Sometimes I watch Mustafi and wonder what is going on in his world.” Sums it up pretty well.
Thought Holding was ok after coming on.
Rewatched him and have to admit he was better than I thought he was. But still he had 2 scenes where he misjudged the situation and both could have ended in goals for Southampton. That’s what I basically mean. It’s similar to Mustafi and Chambers. All of them do a lot of good things in every game. But all of them are also capable of conceding goals out of nowhere every second of the game. But almost all of our defenders have had these flaws in their game. Toure and Koscielny probably the ones with the most consistency in the… Read more »
He’s not
Surely appeal against Elneny red
Enjoyable game. Good result, would be nice if Chelsea can slip up now.
it’s always nice when Chelsea slip up
Mustafi brainfarts….
Too many of those recently
How I wish Aubameyang started the season with us, our position could have been a bit higher
Negatives: We will never be defensively solid under this management/coaching set up. We could have the best statistical defenders in the world and we would still be inept. Positives for today: Welbeck and Iwobi stepped up. We have a world class striker in Aubameyang, this guy will be lethal next season. Paired correctly with Lacazette and we could be frightening.
I didn’t see him that often for Dortmund, but every time I did, he looked like terrifying the defenders with his runs.
Monreal , Kos were not playing Chambers , Holding need games to develop , the team won the game , that’s football, there is always a next game or a next trophy to go for ….let the board pick the manager , the manager pick the team and the supporter watch the game or choose not to watch , that is how it works …..
Have you been watching the last 5-6 years? Even with Koscienly and Monreal we are defensively poor. Not only that, but we have no DM to allow our attack minded players play freely. 5 wins, 4 at home against lower half teams does not mean we have turned the corner. Momentum is key, but we will always concede goals with this defensive structure in place. You don’t see this? You have Wenger plated glasses on my friend.
I like Jack but while he was holding the guys shirt it was strangely symbolic of his struggles right now.
I thought Iwobi done well today. Has received alot of deserved criticism but he was involved in all three goals today and was apart of our better attacking play.
Shocker from Mustafi…Again…There are mistakes than there are Mustafi mistakes which you wouldn’t see at sunday league level.
Mustafi’s defending for the first goal was right up there with the first goal in the cup final. Abysmal.
I play cb for my Sunday league team. I’d hang my head in shame if I conceded goals like he did.
It’s his ball, unless the goalie calls it. Cech didn’t call it … but he fucking should have!
Pretty clearly, from the way they argued afterwards, Mustafi thought Cech was coming and he was afraid of barging into him and maybe preventing Cech from getting the ball. But also pretty clearly, Cech never called, and Mustafi must clear in that case.
In fairness to Mustafi, you could see him conceding that Cech was right and that he had fucked up.
Hesitation and undecisive of Mustafi. If it was Kos he probably cleared that already. If it is 50/50 with the keeper, just clear the ball, Cech will be there if it is not cleared properly
Wilshere is really going in a negative way now. Came on when Southampton were in the ascendancy, and iwobi moved wide instead. Then Arsenal lost all midfield control A number of passes he made found blue shirts He would chase to track a man, get passed by and can’t return into position so SAFC capitalized Same thing happed for Austin’s equalizer. Only positive thing i saw was his pass for the glaring Welbeck miss He made the bad pass that lost possession and proceeded to attack a Southampton player. Sort of an ‘If i can’t play ball, I’ll be hard… Read more »
Not a Wilshere bandwagon member but I think supporters should ease off , he can have a bad day at the game ….. give him a break just as we should also give Mustafi one ….team still won
Still trying to fathom Wilshere’s usefulness in the game. He added nothing meaningful to the team and his embarrassing negativity got Elneny sent off. Perfect Nonsense. Ramsey would make a far better captain than Jack. That’s for sure.
Thought Wilshere was poor today, but i dont think he had anything to do with the Elneny situation.
He started the whole shit, southampton are always a dirty cheaty side and tadic should have been sent off already for those challenges on Nelson and I think it was Iwobi, but our other players are mature enough to focus on the game, not rise to the bait and hit where it hurts, by winning the game. Wilshire plays like a forty year old fourteen year old.
I love your sense of humour.
Captain Aaron… for sure
Good game from Iwobi and Welbeck. Think they both have shown what they can bring to a team when at their best and I hope they’ll manage to show that form a bit more regularly from now on. Welbeck at least until the end of the season, as I don’t see him getting offered a new contract and I’m pretty sure that Arsenal will be keen to cash in for him rather than let him enter his last year of the contract. And Iwobi still has the potential to become an Arsenal great in my opinion. Really like this bloke… Read more »
Great hustle by the Gunners. Good work by Welbeck. Love the work done by Elneny and Iwobi today, as most days, they were immense and controlled the game. Wilshere was poor, falling over on receiving the ball every time, poor passing and slow to everything. He would be lucky to get a contract even though others will say he was brilliant earlier in the season (personally, not better than any of our other midfielders. he has drive but little to no end product like when the Ox played for us). I like Chambers but honestly I do not see how… Read more »
Utter joke of a red card, I really hope Arsenal appeals that and gets it rescinded. Surely the muppet of a ref must have thought something happened that didn’t, that’s never, ever a red card. If he honestly thinks that’s a red card after seeing the replay, it’s time to retire, because he’s lost his marbles.
He thought it was Keiran Gibbs.
Welbeck, Iwobi and Cech our best players. Holding was good too when he came on.
Fucking dogshit from Mustafi all game not just the first goal. His defending for the first goal was bad enough but then trying to pin the blame on Cech, what a moron! Hope he doesn’t play again this season. Allow the new manager to determine whether there’s a player in there somewhere before we sell him.
Jack’s performance was embarrassing.
It’s weird that we’re on a 6 match winning streak – most of those games have shown exactly why Wenger needs to go.
6 wins on the trot with 3 goals or more scored in each game , good chance of making last 4 ot EL , runner up to the best richest team in the country in the EFL cup , 3 trophies in last 5 years , waiting list for season tickets , 59000 paying supporters , do you think the club owners will want to end the manager’s contract ?
6th place, 54 points from 32 games, 43 conceded, 30 pts behind the leaders, 13 pts behind Spurs, relegated to the Europa League, contracts of key players running into their final year, season ticket holders too sick of it all to bother turning up. Yeah, I’m sure the club’s owners love the direction we’re heading.
if winning domestic cups is all that Arsenal should aspire to then yes Wenger has done a terrific job. If the aims of Arsenal are to be a major power who competes for the league and the CL then it’s impossible to argue the past few years have been anything other than a total failure.
Sorry for being a negative grump, but I can’t enjoy fully victories like this where we violate almost all defending principles in the book. I guess AW once more blame lack of concentration when the main reason is a Manager who either can put together a decent defence or doesn’t give a shit.
This gross negligence is my major reason why AW needs to leave after this season
We haven’t exactly gone back to basics have we? It shows that while we’ve been waiting a decade for this manager to get it right, he’s not capable of rediscovered the defensive excellence that was the mark of his early title-winning teams.
It’s absurd how many errors we make that lead directly to goals. Conceding the free-kick against CSKA 17 mins into that game, today the cross that should have been dealt with on 15 mins. It’s been a pattern all season. Change can’t come soon enough.
Surely we’re appealing against that Elneny red?!?
The fa wont rescind it, the ref made a decision, they’ll ask him to clarify which will be him saying elneny tried to start a fracas by pushing and saying naughty words and the fa will say OK red stays…
Great hustle by the Gunners. Good work by Welbeck. Love the work done by Elneny and Iwobi today, as most days, they were immense and controlled the game. Wilshere was poor, falling over on receiving the ball every time, poor passing and slow to everything. He would be lucky to get a contract even though others will say he was brilliant earlier in the season (personally, not better than any of our other midfielders. he has drive but little to no end product like when the Ox played for us). I like Chambers but honestly I do not see how… Read more »
yet another shocking display by arsenal, pleased with the result, and pleased holding had a good game, but it just goes to show that our reserves are just not up to playing in the first team, but then again half our first team are only mid table players at best, that’s about all you can say about today.
afan of what club?
I’m liking the Aubamachineyang
Im really fed up with Mustafi. At fault for both goals. Giving away a free kick for the second that led to all the pressure. That hands out and quizzical face thing he does is so annoying
don’t know just why everyones picking on wilshere, when he has been our best player for most of our games, and yet other players play shit week after week and no one says anything about them
Jack was a breath of fresh air a couple months back with some nice possession and energy in midfield when we were really struggling there. Now the rest of the team has rounded into form and he no longer looks like a shiny new toy. Depth, not a primary cog, until his form returns.
To say no one else gets stick here when they struggle…get a grip. But we get it, you think Jack’s a boss.
Jack can change from defence to.attack on a single turn.im afraid that’s all he has.no pace,slows the game down,he plays in such a way that he gives opposition a chance to tackle him and there goes our momentum,an accident waiting to happen when he tackles someone,not good in the air and a very weak left foot
Plays for the shirt though
Great game. Feels good
I’ve previously got nothing but abuse for suggesting that Wilshere has done little to warrant a new deal.
Now it seems a few are waking up.
We have a ridiculous amount of box to box midfielders, would be nice if we addressed the balance this summer.
Have to disagree with u blogs. We ended d game with 9 men. Were down to 10 men when wilshere entered. It was so sloppy it was as pathetic a display as I have ever seen in an arsenal shirt in over 20yrs.
Ever since his England debacle, he has been piss poor. Needs to be dropped, and if he doesn’t sign d offer, he can leave. We can and need to do better.
Hoping for a better Thursday
I hope he signs the inexpensive deal as depth because I think he brings a skill set we lack in midfield dribbling, but yeah, he’s been terrible lately. Today was shocking but I’m still holding on to the old “form is temporary” cliche. I do believe he cares. On the upside, if he leaves then the 10 shirt will go where it rightfully belongs.
Ended up a good game after a very flat start. In general, I’m not their biggest fan, but I thought Iwobi and Wellbeck were the stand out performers today.
Defensively shaky all game, which is a worry.
I would start Elneny over Jack in Russia as Jack has been awful since the international break.
Auba was great from the first min, dragged the team back into the game, welbz changed confidence gears after his flick assist came off, Iwobi woke up 2nd half, for me Auba was consistent through out. Just pips mo(whole)tm for me.
Who cares? This was a totally meaningless game.
I hope you didn’t waste your time watching it then, surely.
Done tending to your garden already fats?
I had no idea that Eeyore supported Arsenal!
Yet you managed to find the time to fire up your computer and leave a comment about it! Go you!
What reaction would some Wenger- outers here have if the team had lost this “meaningless ” game ? , please let us know ….
Amazing that we had no shots prior to the 28th minute yet scored our second in the 27th.
Also funny how our second string Europa League team has become the second string PL team.
Good win, not the best performance and some dreadful defending. Nonetheless, we’re scoring and very encouraging that Welbeck and Iwobi have both registered a couple of goals and assists.
Chelsea in our sights.
Hats off to Welbeck for that beautiful goal not long after one of the commentators had slagged him off.
I’m surprised he could hear the commentator from that far away.
His scoring ability is a bit shit buy his hearing is incredible!
What happened with Bellerin?
Wilshire is really going through a rough period, at least for once he is fit. Lets just support him. He really needs it.
No need to mention Mustafi for the 2nd goal. But, then again he and Jack are current scapegoats for everything, eh? Much like welbz was. Ozil before that… Laca.. Bellerin.. Fickle bunch.
Your not the scapegoat if it actually was your fight and you played shit.
*fault
*You’re (joke..)
It just seems we always need 1 or 2 players to “mark down” and point the finger at, when it isn’t necessary. Blogs was constantly against Ramsey… Now he’s gods gift!? All my pals are Chekski or Sp*rs and they really are always right; we are a fickle set of fans.
As poor as Jack has been today and recently, I’m shocked to see people criticising him for the cynical yet attack-stopping shirt tug. Oh how I wish Coquelin pulled Hazard’s shirt off instead of letting the little git spin him into another dimension last season!
The Coq was never hard again.
This is a game that Wellbeck won for us! No two ways about it.
We frequently conspire to complicate things for ourselves. Of course the league is now somewhat academic for us even if we do want to catch Chelsea if possible and finish higher than them in at least 5th (and that europa trophy) as minimum standard for this season. But too many changes and predictably we would struggle for fluency. Too much possession 9which we did well for most parts) going no where. Elneny and Granit had good moments but they prefer caution for most parts and side to side short passes. Neither turn well. The one thing Granit does well is… Read more »