First half goals from Alex Lacazette and Martin Odegaard, plus a second half header from Gabriel, ensured Arsenal got back to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Southampton at the Emirates this afternoon.
The pre-game build up was overshadowed by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s absence due to a disciplinary incident which saw him left out, but the Gunners didn’t let that affect them too much. Despite a slow start, the goals changed the game, and Mikel Arteta’s team ran out deserved winners.
At the time of writing, the win pushed up us to 5th, a point behind West Ham who play Burnley tomorrow.
Read the Arsenal 3-0 Southampton match report and see the goals here
Arsenal 3-0 Southampton – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Got way more out of Laca than we would have got from Auba. System is not really designed. Laca has to be first choice right now with what we got.
Where was he on Monday? Constantly absent in attack and offering the square root of fack-all threat in the box, that’s where. A top player would have bagged a hattrick tonight with the chances he had. One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
You tell me how many top strikers are out there that we can get? It’s useless to compare something we currently have to something we can’t have. Strikers miss chances, all of them miss chances. The Everton game our whole team was dreadful, couldn’t string simple passes together so Lacazette couldn’t provide a threat, why the hell are you pinning that performance on him?
The difference between Everton game and today’s was Xhaka, Partey and Ødegaard. Nothing to do with Laca. He’s always switched on.
Laca looks strong when he has the right players around him. He’s a classic back to goal striker with intelligent layoffs and much better finishes than Auba. I think he plays best as a second striker. We’ve played the 4-4-1-1 a few times recently, and I think Laca works best behind Auba or Martinelli. Auba is a waste of time now. No hold up play when we need him to ease the pressure on the defense. Hoof it to Auba and he’ll lose it. I’d like to see ESR playing alongside Lakonga in midfield because I think he can really… Read more »
The fact that getting a top striker in isn’t easy, doesn’t mean we oughta delude ourselves that the ones we have are top.
Laca is a player of known, limited quality who scored a sitter in the box and was as industrious as he always is, as well as uncomposed and wasteful as always.
We need better than that, maybe Eddie or Martinelli through the middle can do a better job, if not, an outside hire needs to be made, next summer at the latest.
DRUGS ARE BAD
Laca is not the best, but the best option we have right now. Not much is coming from the middle and atleast he does a better link up than Auba.
Every striker misses chances. It’s not like they were sitters. He did score one. On current form its hard to drop him. No one is saying we should hand him a new contract but with 6 months remaining to his contract he is still giving 100%. You can’t ask for more than that
I’m not singing from the rooftops yet. That Southampton team has to be one of the worst to visit us this year. Woeful. Not sure Laca will have an easier game than that.
So if you choose to judge him on tonight fair enough, but that’s only his second goal this season, while last game he had more touches in our box than Everton’s.
Until the new year he should keep his place by default if Auba is in the doghouse, but I’m yet to see him have any impact whatsoever in games against the top half of the league.
I’m impressed that he is almost at 90 mins now. All that chasing back to defend should not include the centre forward if you need him to lively up front.
9 for ramsdale? I’m a big fan of his but come on let’s not get silly, 7.5 would have been appropriate.
Odegaard was fantastic
Brilliant saves, brilliant play from the back, a long pass that should’ve been a goal, inspiring confidence in his defence, what more do you need from a keeper to deserve a high mark?
Add to that his slide to celebrate the goal.. I mean, icing on the cake there
Yes 9 simply for his energy and goal celebrations. He actually loves putting on the kit and being at the Arsenal!!
Credit to where credit is due. Odegaard has been great the last three games. If Ramsdale got a 9 so should he.
And it’s not just Odegaards playmaking. He tracks right back to the goal-mouth and then breaks into the penalty box to score. Unbelievable engine. I read somewhere that he has more “pressures” per 90 minutes than any other player in the league
I think all ratings are too low. We won!!!
BBC site (voted by users of the site) has Tierney top rated, then Odegaard, with Xhaka lowest rated Arsenal player.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59529641
Thankfully this is not the BBC. Nice game by Tierney though. Let’s go to tesco!🔥
Agreed, though interesting to see what others think. Saka is ranked 3rd and Ramsdale 4th on the BBC. We may well disagree but worth thinking why that happened.
Arsenal’s own voting is here https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1469726120237019141?t=JO-z1MPfrMavxjSU0FoWTw&s=19
Hard to shake the feeling that if Xhaka was right footed he’d be plying his trade in the Swiss second division. Can someone please tell me what he offers? I just cannot see it.
I thought he was solid today – but remains achingly slow in and out of possession. All the better teams (and there are many!) than Saints have exposed this repeatedly. And will continue to do so.
He’s an 8-10th place player at best… nothing wrong with that, but it’s just not good enough for where we want to end up. End of story.
Agree. Painstakingly slow. I followed the live blog today and in the 46th minute it said “Xhaka shot” and I thought, well that’s him sorted then…
After what will hopefully be a long and distinguished career, Granit Xhaka will be one of the few players with a statue built in his honour that is more mobile than he is.
A double serving of Jack with a topping of squat.
Exactly… you cannot see it. For one, the fella’s got a heckuva long ball on him, is generally an immensely efficient passer of the ball as well, mixes up the level of ambition of his passing well, has a good shot on him, positionally very astute, good communicator and a leader figure, strength wise adequate for PL, when not injured lasts you the whole 90 minutes no problem, very naturally fit and not injury prone freak injuries aside… Heck, if he had a bit of a burst of pace on him and wasn’t prone to an odd freak out and… Read more »
Xhaka was one of our worst players today. But we did get the 3 points so hooray.
Well yeah, but I wasn’t talking about today here… lets face it, the guy just came back from a serious injury, he’s not going to be man of the match right of the bat, is he… and its not like he was awful and stuck out like a sore thumb, maybe he was average in a game where pretty much all his other team mates all carried themselves real well.
Surprised at that, personally thought Tomiyasu was our best player today. Nice to see all the Scottish Arsenal fans getting their vote in nice and early.
I really enjoyed Odegaard’s performance, he was lively, some nice touches and worked really hard off the ball, he was everywhere.
Shows how important it is for us to have him be on form – he was one of the biggest culprits in the first 20 minutes of giving the ball away needlessly multiple times. Glad he has found his scoring boots and that his passing improved as the game went on!
partey isn’t good he is our version of mctominay. watch him whilst we’re on the ball and he constantly runs into positions where the ball can’t get to him. he would be my bottom choice midfielder rn – play sambi/AMN with xhaka
I agree with you on Partey, but pairing them with Xhaka doesn’t really improve our midfield. I think a Sambi/AMN axis might actually be a much better option as things stand. Our DM pairing today make Elneny look like Kante/Makelele.
If you can change AMN into a ball winning midfielder then absolutely play him alongside Sambi
You mean drags the opposing players off their position opening up spaces for his teammates? Yeep.
For all his poor form lately, he’s definitively tactically astute. You don’t start so many games for Simeone if you aren’t.
Just watch the game, there’s a difference between pulling a marker away from space to… standing in between two players in a way where the ball definitely can’t get to you. I’m not saying he’s not tactically astute, but he has zero confidence and its very clear! He doesn’t want the ball as much as he should or did want it at atleti.
And we progress the ball how if he comes all the way back in between the centre-backs to pick it up? What would even be the point of that, might as well leave it with them… His positioning when playing from the back is just fine, if you don’t believe it, look at the scoreboard, that’s exactly how we broke the camel’s back yesterday with Partey very much a part of the action resulting in that opening goal. Could do with being less lethargic overall, but he defo knows where to be to either allow the likes of White to… Read more »
Partay has certainly not been good for quite a while now but comparing him to McTominay is quite literally beyond the pale. There are bacteria in Petri dishes with more football ability in them than McTominay.
He’s not been good at all bar like 3 games
Think you’ve underscored Martinelli, he was so good. And Gabriel looks like the centre back we’ve been waiting a long time for.
Agreed, thought Martinelli worked wonders on the left side, running all over the place and unlucky not to score. He combined well with Tierney and the other attackers also. The problem is when ESR comes back into the starting 11, would Martinelli have the same impact as our central striker? How else do you fit Saka, ESR, Odegaard and Martinelli into the same team?
If we could rely on a single DM rather than needing 2, it’d be possible to have an attack of Martinelli +ST+Saka
with ESR and Ødegaard
You put Odegaard on the bench. Others will all create more consistent attacking momentum.
Extra credit to Martinelli for the way he blocked their defender from challenging Ødegaard’s header for our second goal.
It’s amazing what happens when you continue to play after scoring just one goal 😲
That was really fun. Martinelli and Lacazette both provide dimensions that Auba just doesn’t anymore. And yes, I wish both of them scored more often, but it’s not like Auba has been great in that respect over the past 16 months either.
Plus we are almost prepared for losing players to AFCON without doing anything.
Now that you mentioned that, just realised Elneny wasn’t on the bench today.
It feels a little churlish to call out poor performances after a 3-0 win, but Partey was a passenger for most of the game.
Is it time to give him a rest and start Maitland-Niles instead?
AFCON, as nicely put above.
Agreed, I hardly noticed the guy (again). Well, that’s not true. I did notice him in the last few games, but not for the right reasons…
He wasn’t great but he did keep things ticking along quite nicely in the middle, almost unnoticeably.
I thought he was fairly good in 2nd half, a big improvement over his last few appearances.
That’s the thing a lot of people seem not to see – he does a lot of good work that goes unnoticed. I agree that he’s a confidence player and I can see signs that things are picking up for him. Laughed out loud when the crowd yelled Shoot and he actually did, and it ended exactly how you’d expect! He’s definitely capable of finding the back of the net – just hope he finally gets his goal so that he’s not known for skying them over anymore!
He got a goal for us already in the PL.
That was a header wasn’t it? I was referring to his first top corner screamer that he’s been trying to get ever since he got here!
Normal process for a youngish team. Young teams are fragile and the beating at Liverpool took a toll. Then the atrocious officiating at ManU and Evererton, but against not to good competion at home, looked good. The team is learning. As is the manager. Abu is done and wont be around in January. Ride the horses you have. Xhaka was much better than expected, but still why not AMN or someone else with upside. Over a year ago I kept thinking Arteta has to play Saka and ESR. Now I think the same about martinelli. No where near the finished… Read more »
My only concern with Martinelli is that with the ball at his feet and going at a defence sitting deep from a wing, I don’t think he offers enough. He’s not much of a passer and he’s been known to not spot a wide open player when running with the ball due to looking at it, and not the space around him, so unless there’s a chance to run alone and cause chaos which often times there isn’t, cause the opposition isn’t always out of position, his game amounts to just a slow sideways pass into the middle of the… Read more »
Not sure which club are going to be willing to pay Auba’s wages for a 32 year old. We were daft enough to give him the massive contract in the first place so he’ll be around to carry the torch passed down by Ozil et al.
There were some really brilliant moments from Odegaard, quick layoffs that sped up the attack and spread the danger that the defenders had to deal with before they could get back into shape. No one has done that for Arsenal since Ozil.
If we are going to finish where we want this season we will need him to perform at this level consistently. AND we need Thomas to shake off the doldrums and do the business consistently. If so we might be pretty good actually.
It might be a shortsighted and narrow view at the general play over the last several games but at least one aspect of Arsenal’s play that seems to be an indicator in win vs lose is the press. During the nice unbeaten stretch the press was mostly constant and energetic giving the mids more room and possession. In the last few largely awful games they simply just stopped pressing and sat back. I don’t get why they would stop. Not sure if they’re being told to stop pressing or they do it themselves but it was pretty clear today first… Read more »
I don’t think it’s a narrow view at all, I agree with you. It keeps coming up as an issue and I’m digging in my heels to say that my feeling is they do it themselves against instruction – maybe it’s not backed up by the pressing stats, but that’s the strong impression I get through watching not only MA gesturing to everyone to press forward for large portions of games but even seeing teammates waving each other to come up and press. As you said, we always play better when we do it so I hope they just start… Read more »
Looks like I’m one of very few who thought Partey had quite a good game and was really important. As said before he is often left isolated when the other mid goes to left back. I thought he handled those situations so much better today than in the past few games. Even if he wasn’t cutting the defense apart with his passing he provided the outlet that eased the pressure so many times today. Very tidy on the ball, made space, and played the simple pass forward that kept us ticking. Very similar to the way Arteta played for us.… Read more »
Agreed. And it really ain’t easy playing next to a partner as horribly slow as Xhaka… he had to continually second guess whether Granit would either get skinned or just leave a hole and not get back quick enough to fill it!
Did you see that one where he received the ball and just stood there for what felt like 5 seconds, just trying to decide where to pass? Thankfully it was just that one time and no one was pressing him, and the rest of the time he was quicker than his usual slow self – but he’s not going to play nearly as ok as in this game against any other opposition when he’s not afforded all the time in the world…
Yes to both comments but it seems Partey is the whipping boy du jure these days for the disgruntled among us. He needs a mobile and dynamic partner to reach his full potential; someone with box-to-box range but diligent on defense and physical when tackling. Xhaka is just too damn slow and one-dimensional to start beside him and there is no flow in the midfield when he plays and the same can be said on Elneny except he has a better motor.
Partey is not good at making himself visible to team mates. He wants the ball, but seems to be unaware of being too close to players from the other team. He should improve this part of his play.
Ramsdale and Ode were the excellent performers throughout but Tomi deserves massive credit too. Never puts in anything less than a 7/10 and his two-footed ability to beat a press in the tightest of spaces was vital in our buildup time and again today.
“Tomiyasu can’t attack.” Tomiyasu with two pre-assists today: i beg your pardon?
Gotta big up Arteta too for sticking with this lineup despite the poor performance at Everton last time out.
With those pre-assists he truly is the worthy inheritor of the “Super Tom” chant. Odegaard’s pressing is reminiscent of Rosicky too, though he’ll need to add that gorgeous slide tackle to his game. Brings a tear to my eye nonetheless.
Pre-assists are the new black.
Yep, Tomi has been one of our best players this season but does kicking off now count as a ‘pre- assist’ someplace in this stat obsessed nerd heaven you inhabit?
Another MOTM performance for Odegaard. 3 goals in 3 games, suck it haters!
Remember that mini-outrage in the summer because we signed Odegaard instead of Buendia – who is these days resting quite nicely on the Aston Villa bench.
Haha, I remember. They also wanted Maddison. LOL.
Not to forget the excellent goal that PEA fecked up on him!
Yeah you’re right, he should have 4 goals in 4 games.
Tomi was man of the match for me, though I’ll admit Ødegaard is beginning to show his last season form. But when he runs, I still can’t get this picture out of my head of a granny with two heavy bags.
Tierney’s Tesco bags.
Agreed today. And his end produkt has really been something recently. But.. In previous games, including when he scored, hides too much. Chooses the easy option too often. Plays where the opponents lets him. Passes teammates in the wrong moment, in useless positions, or when they are under pressure. Too often takes the tempo out of the game. He should demand more from himself. I generelly don’t feel that he makes his teammates better. Plays too much for himself. Harsh? Then I much prefer players that make their teammates look good. Like ESM, Saka of course, Tomiasu, Martinelli, Laca, Partey,… Read more »
Y’all should give it a rest, we played against a very poor Southampton side who were missing some key players. Will reserve my judgement on the team after the West Ham game, since we can’t beat any top 4 side. Bunch of teletubbies who can’t perform when it matters 😂🤦♂️
The top teams struggled against presumably weaker sides today. The truth is that everybody can beat everybody in the Premier League. All teams are very strong, even Southampton with a couple of injuries. Arsenal can take pride in their victory.
But the teletubbies can diet and exercice while you will always be a grumpy sod.
Aside: For me, Tierney is the undisputed starting LB of this team, barring a massive drop-off in form.
I love Nuno and do see what he offers that KT does not, but I’m not sure Nuno’s positives are things we’re really missing all that much. Very happy to have both players in the squad and Nuno will surely get games — maybe there will be some opponents where he’s the better option for whatever reason — but that general debate is settled as far as I’m concerned.
Exactly. And let’s not forget, Nuno is younger and has the potential to exceed Tierney, but it’s not his time yet. Tierney is a proven full-back at club level and international level, and shouldn’t lose his place because Tavares had a few great games. Tavares will get his chance.
If he makes the decision to leave us for Man City, then that would be unfortunate, but I wouldn’t have any regrets.
If Nuno progresses as a defender which is still a question mark, I could see Tierney taking the Xhaka role instead. More speed, more steel. Pairing him with Partey/Sambi would be very interesting down the line.
I’m very worried about our central midfield as Partay and Xaka are just not up to it so far. KT and Sambi there would be interesting and might represent a stop gap solution until such time as we recruit in that area.
Man City should be ready to pay heavy then- he won’t come cheap. But we are not selling. End of story
KT better for now but Tavares has a higher ceiling.
I mean, maybe? Not sure how anyone could say this with any confidence given the small sample size and the players’ ages, but okay.
The defence held today, with a little luck. But here are still issues. While Mustafi was positionally unconscious (ball-watching) and Holding slow, the current cast still has things to sort out. While Tomiyasu keeps great control over the right wing, neither Tierny nor Tavares close down early enough on the left. White and Gabriel run into each other’s space during defensive free/corner kicks.
tomiyasu is just on another level. wins everything in the air, runs as fast as anyone. plays accurate first touch balls like he spent his childhood at la masia. then gets kicked in the face and just keeps playing, doesnt even complain. what a player, doesn’t get enough credit around here imo
Agreed, he’s come in and settled so quickly it’s unreal.
Huge improvement on Bellerin and Cedric.
How we got Tomiyasu for only 16m is a mystery.
We got him for that price for the same reason that we wasted money on players who were never good enough–because, even with good scouting and poring over analytics, it’s still a gamble to know which young players will succeed in a different, more difficult, league. (Remember that next time someone says we should have bought Kante before Leicester did.)
I disagree, i think the major improvement in our recruitment has been the attention paid to the character and personalities of this summers signings.
One of Tomiyasu’s defining attributes is his temperament, which appears to be exemplary. The same can be said of Ben White and i personally attribute Gabriel’s improvement to the calm that White and Tomiyasu has brought to the back line.
I think that was because there were doubts about whether he could make the step up from Bologna to the Prem. But he’s answered those doubts in fine style.
How we got Cedric Mari Sokratis lichtsteiner
Whilst this was a good result we were expected to win it, especially at home. We are good at getting results against the likes of Southampton but we need an effective gameplan against the top teams otherwise we are going nowhere. I don’t know whether Arteta is up to that task but it seems when we face the likes of Liverpool or Chelsea we are flat and out of ideas and the body language is all wrong – even today we were flat for the first twenty minutes. This needs to change..
I agree with this. Not sure whether it’s a game plan or just need to do the things we did today (beat the press, direct runs, fast counter attacks) at a higher level against better players.
We don’t have the luxury of making mistakes or hesitating when we play teams that are in and around the top six. The team needs to push on a level or 2 before the end of the season.
1. Laca would have scored a hat trick today if he had taken shots (on two occasions) rather than extra touches
2. That ref was a twat
The team looked really hesitant and fragile from the start, again. We invited pressure from yet another team bereft of confidence. Lucky not to concede on multiple occasions. Then comes a lucky break – a goldilocks moment – where we scored a great goal. After that we looked grand. Really loved the way we continued to pile on pressure for a period at 3-0 up! But we need more leaders to step up. We need more players to assume responsibility and take risks, like turning with the ball instead of squaring it back. To take on opponents. To make more… Read more »
Life is much easier at 2-0 up.
I know it’s “just” Southampton, but I must say we didn’t seem to let up, and continued to attack and held possession like a team that do that sort of thing. Ramsdale is the best in the league right now. F… (insert keepers name here). What a gall danged buy!
Agreed. And yet so many of us had doubts about Ramsdale. He makes humble pie taste nice. Credit to Arteta and Edu.
Odegaard would have had a 6 if he hadn’t scored. Regularly lost possession when passing forwards. His pressing is impressive as ever.
But goals assists and sustaining the attack is what we need. Too often we rely on a solitary isolated Saka to beat three men on his own.
When odegaard only overloads on the right in order to defend (effectively) but neither he nor Tomi get past him to take away a defender, no Laca making a run.
Theoretically it should be one of the central pivots who makes a move. But we are still so rigid…
Basically what I am saying is if odegaard can hold up the ball and find people better, just an extra 10% then players like Sambi or even a confidence Partey can make that third man run behind the defence without worrying the move will break down and we get countered.
Perhaps Odegaard should play as pivot alongside Sambi when Afcon comes around with ESR in the 10 and Martinelli of the left…
Good game. But we need a run of wins, the inconsistency is frustrating. We got to play like this every game, be on forefront of attacks. Still don’t understand why xhaka is starting to be honest he looked rusty. But all the same good win boys
Given we had lost the last two games I’ll take the inconsistency of a 3-0 win.
Cause Elneny couldn’t break a line if it was made out of paper, and every time Sambi touches the ball in our own third I can already see him assisting the opposing striker…
Decent performances today. Struggled in first half punctuated by some good flowing moves. 1) Ramsdale – Strong commanding voice again. Love the punt for the almost assist to Martinelli. Also stayed alert to keep out a number of sniff chances from them. Just love his no nonsense approach but some heart in mouth moments with the play out the back 2) Tomiyasu – Very strong performance today. Good attempt at goal but also some great recoveries. Looking good for us with his added height but very calm on the ball. 3) White – Decent but also some moments he needed… Read more »
One of our best performances this season and still people are moaning!
Can you not just be happy for once? Despite our topsy turvy form we are still one point from the CL places, this is a vast improvement on last season
It’s interesting to see that a quiet, undemonstrative player like White will simply not get the plaudits his performances deserve 🙂 He’s no fist-pumping guy like Gabriel, nor slide-on-your-knee Ramsdale, and somehow that seems to make him invisible. But he’s consistently solid, tries to play on the front foot, pushes forward and remains calm and unflustered at the back. Would he get higher ratings if he shouted more?!
We weren’t three goals better than Southampton but it’s a much needed win and a clean sheet which keeps us in the mix for the European places. Our central midfield worries me with much better opposition ahead as Partay and Xhaka were very poor again today. The opener epitomized what is Areteta’s ‘Goldilocks’ goal i.e. if not executed just right the move was likely to have broken down earlier with us conceding a chance at the other end. Ramsdale had to make several good saves to keep us in it early doors. Let’s not get too elated with the wins… Read more »
agreed…Southampton were poor… they didn’t fight… the game with West Ham will be a better barometer… looking forward to it!
Xhaka is always a worry to me- too slow, can’t put in enough clean tackles, gives away too many fee kicks and is a red card waiting to happen.