It wasn’t the prettiest performance, and Arsenal really had to dig deep to take three points – but that’s exactly what they did away to Southampton this evening.
Eddie Nketiah nabbed the opener in the first half, and Joe Willock’s injury-time strike against 10 men sealed the deal, while in-between there wasn’t much to write home about for Mikel Arteta. However, his team worked hard, they were disciplined and contained the home side pretty well throughout.
Read the Southampton 0-2 Arsenal report and see the goals here
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Ratings
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Super
Bellerin is a worry for me, Pepe needs more support in attack and bellerin offers none. Zero overlaps. That’s why Pepe constantly looks isolated. Also Bellerin defending is poor for a full back. I honestly think it’s time we consider selling him. Ceballos I can’t wait for his loan to be over. Good to see Martinez and Holding playing well.
I wouldnt sell bellerin, if anything I’d try and find a better option.
hes still young, but off the pitch he is a perfect person to have associated with the club.
if he is plateau-ing then get him some competition, he hasn’t had any for about 4 years fgs
I’d sell him if we got a 30m+ offer right now. I think AMN is a better defender than Bellerin and I think between AMN and cedric that position can be filled. Right now if we got 30m+ for Bellerin, 20m+ for Mustafi, 10m+ for Mavropanos, a few quid for Sokratis even though I’d rather we kept Sokratis and sold Luiz. But it’s looking like Sokratis will be gone. Also 15-20m for Reiss Nelson, 35-40m+ for Lacazette, maybe 15-20m for Ozil, that’ll total about 130m to 140m… We can spend 40m on Partey, 35-40m on Upamaecano, that’s 80m we still… Read more »
Wow. We won away. That is all.
Does anyone else get really annoyed hearing the commentators constantly saying the full names of Kyle Walker-Peters and James Ward-Prowse? Just say their surnames ffs
Been happening for years, they like the sound of their own voice. It was always ‘Dimitar Berbatov’
Where it sould’ve been Dimitar Silksmooth-Berbatov. But yeah, seeing the same for ages with AOC, AMN, etc
that is hilarious – never thought about that before, but you’re right.
Have you noticed commentators always insist on referring to “Solly March” instead of just “March”? I think they like any slightly unusual name.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s pod! Dare I hope for a goodly morning?
Do we get the arsecast extra tomorrow?
Wondering what happen to James, nearly broke his arm last time & we ‘nearly’ won. With 3+ points today I hope he’s alive lol
Good to finally get a win however I feel like you lose a lot of kieran Tierney’s offensive traits with him being tucked in and playing from around the halfway line.
That’s true but we have been so bad defensively since the season resumed. Pre lockdown, Xhaka would often drop back to create that 3rd CB with Ceballos and Ozil ahead which worked well. Now Ozil isn’t in the team (for whatever reason) we lack that creativity and link play going forward therefore we need Xhaka’s passing strengths further forward. It also gets Saka in the team who has arguably been our best offensive player.
Bar Aubameyang should I add!
Rob Holding.
Steve Silversmith the 2nd.
Slightly lucky to get the three points like that but after the last two games maybe Arteta deserves that luck. The narrative will be about having two academy players on the scoresheet, now we need the club to supplement them with real quality in the market instead of experienced, “cheap” off-casts. Experience in the dressing room is a bonus, but it’s no substitute for actual ability.
Also, Xhaka is by far our most important midfielder and I don’t know how to feel about that.
That our midfield needs a strong addition, but at the same time (annoying brain-farts aside) Xhaka’s far from the shit-show he’s often made out to be? That’s how I feel about that.
If we want to compete for and in Europe, we will need better central midfielders.
And better scouts to spot them, too!
And better owners to buy them, too!
Completely agree – a fortuitous win. There were passages of possession play that just looked sub-standard. Compared with previous combinations (Wilshere-Ramsey-Cazorla; Fabregas-Nasri-Rosicky, for example) this midfield just isn’t good enough.
This team needs a complete rework. With the exception of Aubameyang who’s on his way out, we have zero stars or anyone with any kind of wow factor (beyond Ozil on a good day).
We have an amazing group of young players just need to make sure that we signed the right players. Players that can help this youngsters fulfill their full potential without having to leave the club.
Bellerin is becoming a worry, we love him but we might be needing a RB sooner than we thought.
Honestly as long as he stays fit RB is the least of our worries. And if I’m not mistaken he’s played every minute since the restart so I think he shouldn’t be judged too harshly.
The “least” of our worries is a bit of a stretch…
Well CB, CM, and ST depending on Auba and Laca leaving will be bigger priorities so yeah it is the least. Cedric just signed for 4 years anyways so we won’t be getting a better one anytime soon.
Shane Long lost.
2 goals. Clean sheet. Away win. I’m happy with all that. We didn’t look the best but I’ll take it!!!!
Indeed.
St. Mary’s hasn’t been a happy place in recent years. A win!
A great result,even if hard working more than stylish.
Rob Holding impressive, so pleased for him.I hope he keeps his place when Luiz is available.
And to think I thought the day was cursed when the following popped up on my computer before the game – Rylan in big brother masturbation confession:
A pleasant surprise after that.
Unsure why it’s taken so long for Holding to get a few games in. He isn’t spectacular, but in our backline that’s a good thing and I’d say he’s our most dependable CB.
He was a bit rusty when he played before the break. Love Rob. Long may we see him taunt strikers after sending them crashing.
Anyone else’s jaw drop when xhaka dribbled past someone ?
You’d be surprised, he does that Kroos shimmy almost every match
Why? He does it often. Arguably the most underrated player in the team
I agree he brain farts in some matches but he is a solid CM. What he needs is someone like Santi along side him who can speed up the transition. Ceballos is no Santi nor anyone else of our Midfielders. We need to plug this gaping hole in our Midfield.
Nice to win. Our midfield really is poo at possessing and distributing the ball. Seemed our most effective attacks were long balls over the top/in the channels. Embrace it.
Interesting, I thought several players deserved better ratings, especially Martinez, Xhaka, and Pepe. Martinez wasn’t especially busy but the save and rebound recovery vs Long was tremendous, and the long ball to Auba was brilliant and deserved an assist. Xhaka’s passing was a big part of our decent play in the first half and his tackling and positioning were such an improvement over Guendouzi. Pepe’s run and pass to slip in Nketiah was brilliant and he almost made a similar play earlier but Hoibjerg hacked him down before he could make the pass. He also had a nice cutback that… Read more »
When you point every little mistake from Xhaka, I wonder 2 things: 1. Xavi, Iniesta and Pirlo etc must have play every game or at least every other game without a single mistake. Not that Xhaka is in the same league.. 2. Or you have a problem with Xhaka. Ramsey use to misplaced so many passes and being found out of position regularly.. never a witch hunt againt him. Same goes for Mustafi, not that he’s great but a lot less negativity for 46mil Laca, who has forgotten where the goal is since he’s joined Arsenal.. not saying Laca should… Read more »
I think that depends on which position they play. For an attacking player, you can have very bad moments and moments when you disapear, as long as you have some brilliant moments once or twice in a game. Because we remember the goals you created not the one you missed. And a missed opportunity is not so costly for a team. I think for a center back that’s exactly the opposite. The most important quality for a center back is focus. They have to be consistent and avoid mistakes at all costs. Because making a dumb mistake is way more… Read more »
You completely missed the point. Position or contribution is not the problem, its the difference in treatment.
people have a problem with xhaka because he isnt good enough to play for arsenal same goes for mustafi
WRT Mustafi and Xhaka – their arrival was much heralded and they both cost 30M upwards. Arsenal fans aren’t used to seeing a 30M talent not setting the EPL on fire. I think they have certainly been judged harshly but they have fucked up their case quite royally with a lot of immaturity on plenty of occasions. With the right partners besides them they can be pretty dependable. Xhaka isn’t a Xabi Alonso but on a good day at least a Gareth Barry. Mustafi will never be a Vidic but easily an Otamendi if he had some decent coaching.
otamendi sucks!
you must have forgotten the huge witch hunt against Ramsey
Martinez bailed mustafi out? Really? Ings stood behind both the center backs. Bellerin AGAIN was switched off and stood behind them. He’s an utter liability with his positioning ball watching and lack of awareness. He even held his hand up after that save to acknowledge his error. Still mustafi gets called out. By all means sell him if we can as he usually has a brain fart in every game. Today he was very good and still the only thing noted was a tackle which got a yellow and the blame for doing his job properly. Bellerin made a tackle… Read more »
Bellerin can improve.
Bellerin was playing 3rd consecutive full game in 10 days. I will grant him some slack and rest to recover. Keep in mind he didn’t play a lot before the interruption. He will be back stronger, keep the trust in ability which we all are aware about.
Very happy for the win today ! Good to see the youth hungry for goals. Eddie, Saka and Holding were outstanding. Aubu, Xhaka, Tierney, Mustafi, Martinez were various degrees of good. Our right side really needs to improve. Ceballos and Bellerin were poor today.
nice to have a center back who can defend. may be something to it.
Feel like our players are much better than perhaps we’ve made them out to be, but they’ve long been underperforming. Not all doom and gloom!
yes they are well but auba missed a lot and houlding well done
I would give a full season to Holding to observe his development.
Maybe he makes a couple of mistakes or has some poor performances but I would pair him up with Saliba or Mari.
Winning should be the best medicine for me to watch Boys Play again!!!
Good win against a slight bogey team for us.
Delighted 2 Academy boys did the job, and another in Smith getting around the 1st Team.
On a sour note, what has happened to the Bellerin that first broke through, the man now is just awful.. giving the ball away, awful passing and no energy. Is he carrying an injury?