Arsenal: Raya, Partey, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Jorginho, Rice, Havertz, Sterling, Saka, Jesus
Subs: Neto, Lewis-Skelly, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Merino, Nwaneri, Martinelli, Trossard, Butler-Oyedeji
Arsenal survived a second half scare to come from behind and beat Southampton 3-1 at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, thanks to goals from Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka.
Mikel Arteta made three changes to the team that beat Paris Saint-Germain midweek, with Jorginho, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus all coming into the side.
Ben White and Jurrien Timber both missed out entirely through injury meaning Thomas Partey would fill in at right back, while Takehiro Tomiyasu featured on the bench for the first time this season.
Arsenal were on top and causing chaos from the first whistle and had two early sights of goal, with Gabriel head towards goal from a corner, before Jesus saw another goalbound effort blocked after brilliant wing play from Saka.
Raheem Sterling found himself through on goal shortly after when Aaron Ramsdale gave the ball away carelessly under little pressure, but the on-loan forward couldn’t keep his balance and convert under pressure from the covering Jan Bednarek.
The Gunners didn’t stop there and were finding joy pressing Southampton into deep areas, and had two more nearly moments when Kai Havertz was played through by Jorginho – but opted to cross instead of shooting – before Saka saw another shot blocked after Partey did well to win the ball high up.
With 25 minutes on the clock, Southampton were forced into a change with Ross Stewart unable to continue through injury being replaced by Cameron Archer, in what was their first opportunity to breathe in the whole game.
However, this allowed the visitors to slow things down and re-organise themselves defensively which halted the early Arsenal momentum, with Jorginho firing another strike just wide from the edge of the area.
Sterling had another shot blocked by Bednarek before the break, but things definitely fizzled out for Arteta’s men who came flying out of the blocks, but couldn’t break the deadlock when they were on top – and Southampton settled after their first half injury.
One shot on target a-peace after 45 minutes wasn’t the game everybody expected before kick off.
Minutes into the second half, there was almost a shock lead for Southampton after Tyler Dibling breezed past Calafiori and drove into the box, before his shot deflected into the path of Mateus Fernandes whose effort looped onto the top of the bar.
Arsenal clearly didn’t take that earlier warning sign and did find themselves behind after Sterling lost the ball carelessly in midfield, allowing Fernandes to find Archer in behind who found the bottom corner despite pressure from William Saliba. 0-1.
But they were level within three minutes after Saka did well to intercept a poor pass in midfield, before finding Havertz who took the ball on and blasted a finish beyond Ramsdale and in off the post. 1-1.
It was a clinical finish from the German who became the first Arsenal player since Robin van Persie to score in seven consecutive home games.
After the equaliser, Arteta brought on Mikel Merino, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard for Jorginho, Sterling and Jesus – with Arsenal starting to push Southampton back again with waves of attacking pressure and possession.
Their pressure did eventually tell and it was another goal created by Saka, who did brilliantly to cut inside two defenders and send a teasing ball to the back post where Martinelli volleyed home unmarked. 2-1.
It was another decisive moment from the Hale End graduate and another welcome goal for Martinelli who is finding form after a difficult start to the season.
Despite their second half dominance, the Gunners were fortunate not to concede a freak equaliser when David Raya punched a corner straight onto Taylor Harwood-Bellis with the ball looping onto the crossbar again.
With the Emirates crowd becoming increasingly nervous, the game was put beyond doubt when Saka – who else – capitalised on some poor Southampton defending to fire beyond Ramsdale. 3-1.
Yukinari Sugawara did well to stop Trossard breaking initially but his heavy touch fell straight to Saka who finished with all the conviction we’ve come to expect from him.
This was far from convincing from Arsenal who struggled against weaker opposition for the second successive week, but key players stepping up and strong impacts from the bench made the difference in the end.
Now all eyes will be on the international break where some players can hopefully have a rest, others can avoid injury and Martin Odegaard gets evercloser to returning.
Kai Havertz — that boy is going to be a fucking cult hero + legend by the time we have won all those PL titles and UCL trophy.
Not the goals per se. But the willingness to work his socks off and keep trying. Mikel Arteta has done it again!
And oh, the less said about “one of our own” B. Saka, the better. SEVEN assists in the league already. Chapeau
“The less said”??
😀 got too excited
Great result in the end. But what an awful starting line up was that? Plenty of buzzing around with no result. Sterling and Jesus lacked end product. Lucky we have Kai and Saka. The substitutions were spot on.
They were needed at half time, not so much for Merino, but in EPL and champions league we can’t start both Jesus and sterling
I think we can use them to give others a rest but playing both together just sees the level drop too much. I expect the club to sort this out next summer.
Agreed. One or the other of them would likely have been fine. Both at the same time is a big ask until they develop understandings with each other and the whole.
It’s interesting… Players need MORE game time to work their way into fitness. I am not really worried about both. But they need to get more game time than the odd 10 minutes they are getting now. How that would happen, I don’t know.
You can’t leave Jesus and Sterling on the bench all season and then suddenly ask them to score goals in the odd game here and there. They need to be integrated into the group and have meaningful games, like this one so that they can develop their understanding of how their team mates play, the timing of runs and passes, the rotations being snappy and on point. It looked painful today because they were short on reps with those things.
What a kak line up. I ws honestky worried. Very concerned abut Jesus.
Sensational Saka!
I have a feeling Saka will be a good player in the future
One day he might be as good as Doku
Definitely has a chance.
Sensational Martinelli
Great reaction again, but two against the posts today, two against the posts against PSG, Raya our best player this season: we’re really riding our luck so far… Apart from that, I predict Calafiori new Blog’s favorite!
Cala not built for speed, was in difficulties several times in second half
I do not want to see Calafiori against Salah or any speedy and tricky winger unless we have already won the league. He did, however, manage to retrieve the ball, twice, from an attacker who had seemingly gotten by him with sliding, hook tackles. Weird, scary, yet effective.
The one from the corner would have been disallowed had it gone in, Southampton player holding Raya with no attempt to get the ball. But yeah, defence isn’t at our best at the moment, I’m putting it down to injuries and fatigue. We should be fine once the players come back, hopefully starting after the interlull.
I am PRAYING Deschamps just randomly decides to drop Saliba. The workload is starting to pile up for him. Played nearly all our games last season, played all France’s games in the Europe and has started the season again playing all games for club and country. He is definitely one who needs a breather, I would say.
Calafiori is all showbiz for now, but unfortunately some of his flare will have to get reined in – he lost his fullback several times when he got his positioning wrong.
Still though, his basic skillset is at a very high level for his age. His first burst stride into midfield reminds me of Partey a year ago.
Once Dibling proves to Calafiori that he can’t get tight or he’ll turn & burn him, the LHS dynamic changes. Calfiori has to stay back from Dibling, that opens up his passing angles, intelligent overlaps/underlaps allow Saints access to our half space area. They did that a handful of times and that was their threat. Merino mostly shut that down with his presence and willingness to track into his defensive area. It’s a dynamic to keep an eye on though. I’m a big fan of Calafiori’s but this is why he was moved away from LB even when he was… Read more »
The first shot clipped the outside of the post but Raya was obviously going to get there had it been on target. The second one pings around from a corner and strikes the bar. It’s amuch more of a letoff, but as a coach you can’t legislate for the bounce of the ball. You can look at how the corner was conceded and how the marking was on the set play. I didn’t see a lot wrong with either of those things.
I’m more concerned about our now predictable slow starts in the second half. Arteta needs to sort that out.
Here is the revised version with improved grammar: AE9012 The first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half were terrible. We were trying to force things instead of keeping it simple and fluid. Sterling was lively but lacked an end product, and his losing the ball that led to their goal must have been frustrating. As for Jesus, the less said at this point, the better. He no longer fits the system Arteta is trying to implement, and despite getting numerous chances, he isn’t delivering. The introduction of Martinelli and Trossard completely changed the game, and their… Read more »
Jesus was v poor
Bless.
Thank you for this one Bukayo
Do not poke the tiger.
Also, I’m thinking of changing my name to Saka’s left foot
Sterling Jesus subs changed the dynamic
Havertz…wow! I can’t believe what he’s turned into.
Calafiori…our starting LB, for sure!
I thought Calafiori was a bit dodgy defensively in the second half. He’s so positive but he really leaves some enormous gaps.
Personally prefer Timber at lb and White at rb on what we’ve seen so far. Expect him to become a bit of a beast though with more time and coaching.
His pace is an issue, gets away with it most of the time because he’s so good in all other aspects but we have to try not to have him running back towards our goal
His decision making is fine, but he lacks the top end speed. He compensates for that by being very aggressive and tight, but if he doesn’t win the initial duel (usually he does) then there’s a risk his winger can knock it past him or play a 1-2 and burn him off the ball. It will happen 1-2 times a game when he is at LB. You accept that because on balance he brings so much more to the team, but eventually he will have to move back to CB. His most natural position is a LCB in a back… Read more »
I think time to bed into the team and get accustomed to what Arteta wants in all phases of play is all he needs. Expect him to get better and better over the course of his first season like all recent Arteta signings.
Calafiori has been great for sure, but against speed merchants I believe he struggles a bit
Havertz, man. He works his shoes off, also scoring clinical goal.
The RVP comparison stat stands out too. Just think what will happen when Kai is fully in the groove, like Robin was in the “he scores when he wants” season. No easy games so far this season.
I’ll probably keep coming back to Arteta’s earlier comment about Kai Havertz needing “love” to thrive. What a finish! That little tiny swerve just before, it’s all just flowing for him right now. Did someone say we need to buy a striker?
And the same is true for Martinelli, he seems to me like a similar personality type and it’s great to see him getting back to form. It’s easy to support players when they’re doing well, hope we continue to follow Arteta’s example of doing it also when they aren’t.
I can say that again
Add Jesus to that. He just needs a goal and we’ll see his best again.
Yes! Another one some have been getting impatient with. Though I feel like he’s a bit more of a mental monster who isn’t so much affected by what others think of him (growing up in the favela will do that to ya) and it’s usually just a matter of him staying fit for a month or two, which sadly hasn’t happened so often. When he does he usually starts doing wonderful things that help us win, scoring and otherwise.
I think we do still need a striker, but only because it’s clear that if Kai spends any significant time out of the team we’re in big trouble.
Only if as per the Doctor’s comment above Jesus doesn’t regain his form too. And even not just in that not super likely scenario, remember the time before Kai Havertz started scoring and we were still strongly challenging for the title the first half of last year and the year before? If Saka, Martinelli, Trossard and Odegaard (when he comes back) are in stride we’ve got a ton of goals between them. We just can’t afford to lose more than 1 or 2 of these players (those 4 and Kai) at any given time, which is why I was half… Read more »
I’ll probably keep coming back to Arteta’s earlier comment about Kai Havertz needing “love” to thrive. What a finish! That little tiny swerve just before, it’s all just flowing for him right now. Did someone say we need to buy a striker?
And the same is true for Martinelli, he seems to me like a similar personality type and it’s great to see him getting back to form. It’s easy to support players when they’re doing well, hope we continue to follow Arteta’s example of doing it also when they aren’t.
You can say that again
Had me a little worried for a bit there, bot on we go. COYG!
At one point I thought we’d lose today in the worst way possible. Total dominance on paper but concede the only goal. Its what the Arsenal of a few years ago would have done. This group are a different proposition. They don’t seem to know how to lose. Still unbeaten, and only dropped points when down to 10 men. Onwards and upwards.
Not just that, but the teams of old would have just rolled over and died going down, but you can see this group gets MAD which focuses them. I’d be interested to see a stat that demonstrates how long, on average, it takes them to score whenever they go down. It always seems to be within five or so minutes to level it back up, despite how the game has been going (today it was three minutes).
Much as I like the win, don’t think we are going to win the league. Attacking bench not good enough
The right side is non existent, but bring MO, and BW at their spots and we’ll be alright
Me thinks Saka plays basketball.
If only I can down vote this comment as many times as I want!🤷🏻♂️
I think if you put odegard in with our starting front 3 we’re 1 or 2 goals up by HT
bad boy grimmy, don’t you know how this site works? you can’t have a neutral opinion right after the match, even if it’s true. all you have to say is: “yeaahhhh we’re the best!!!!” or everyone will hate you. but don’t worry, post the exact same message after we lose against crystal palace and you’ll be the top comment, even if it’s not true.
The experiment didn’t work, particularly jesus and sterling… Thank goodness we managed to turn it over fast. Hail Kai and our Starboy!
The left side needs either Martinelli or Trossard to carry a threat, preferably both
G Jesus has been frustrating to watch lately… No thanks to his injuries but he needs to keep things simple. The things he does so well before, he doesn’t seems to be doing them anymore.
Jesus usually chooses the wrong option, he is a last 20 minute sub at best. we lost the league last year, mainly by dropping points when he was our striker. A pass to him usually results in the breakdown of our attack. It is as plain as day. The only way that we don’t win the league this year, is if we start Jesus as a striker, at a push, may be he could start as a wide man.
I can understand the need to rotate, but maybe not Jesus and Sterling at the same time.
Maybe against Preston in Carrabso cup or as subs when game is safe
This game perfectly demonstrated why we probably won’t win the title.
Yet again, we struggled to beat a poor team at home, and yet again we conceded.
3-1 sounds comfortable but it wasn’t: with a bit more luck Saints could have nicked a point.
We are desperate for a quality striker. Jesus never was and never will be one.
At least we won.
Interesting. I saw it as an opportunity for Mikel to rest some players, with enough time and talent to address a 1-0 deficit. All without our first choice midfield since we started the league this season.
Also I have to ask why? City only managed to beat Fulham 3-2 (conceding twice at home). They also went down first.
They also got incredibly lucky to beat us.
We also should have beaten Brighton.
It’s this year my friend. Enjoy it.
Winning ugly is the hallmark of a title winning team. We’re at the tail end of probably our hardest period of the season and winning by 2 goals. I’m not saying we’ll definitely win the league, it’s obviously too early to come to any judgement there, but we are still on track.
“at least we won”
Isn’t winning when not playing at our best a good sign? It’s not like we are totally shit or anything if our PSG game is anything to go by.
Re: the quality striker, Havertz just matched RVP’s record, and say what you want about RVP, he was a pretty decent striker I’d say. Had we not rotated so much, we would’ve won far more comfortably I feel. Such kneejerking is not helpful.
Please! Kai Havertz is NOT a striker! When he plays up front he does everything that a striker should do but he is not a natural finisher. Yes, he’s having a great run at the moment but he won’t score the 25 to 30 goals that we need from him.
Alexander Isak in this team wins us the title, no problem.
The Isak that is always injured? He’s not playing today
Kai has 4 now in PL, Isak 1, let’s see
Finished pretty naturally today.
Kai score today, great finish. We scored 3 and your sharpening your knives. Isak could be the 2nd coming of fat Ronaldo and you’d still turn on him eventually
He actually watched Havertz bang that one in (and his previous 6 in a row at home) and has the temerity to say that Kai not a striker. Shame on you.
I don’t think your vision for the striker position matches Arteta’s.
No striker we could get in January would be better than Kai, much less displace Kai this season. I would rather punt on Jesus (as we did on Eddie) as viable cover and find a compelling understudy for the future. Jesus is now third behind GM and LT on the left, and should be third behind KH and LT in the middle. At best he’s a wash with Sterling behind Saka.
Jesus is a mid-table starter at this point. No knock on him but this is where Arsenal is now.
On current form, yes, but this is a form issue, not a permanent state. How do I know? Watch his burst, his acceleration, his change of direction. It’s all there. The issue is decision making. Needs match fitness, needs a run of games with players he knows how to play with, and a goal to boost his confidence and we’ll see the best of him again.
I think it’s perhaps time that Mikel and Edu had a serious chat with him about his attitude. There’s no doubting he’s putting the effort in but at the moment he’s behaving like a five year old who’s had his ball taken away. Cut out the histronics and silly faces, settle down and focus on the job in hand and he’s very capable. He needs a confidence boost but he also needs a reset.
He was never a goals machine, and Pep was never convinced with him up the middle. Does he displace any of our wingers? I can’t see it. He still has the attributes you mention at times, and his work rate is solid, yet he’s also got other attributes that don’t mesh. Regardless, he’s not stayed healthy long enough to fully click with this version of the team, and he may not get the minutes to do so given our objectives. That all said, he’s talented and he’s ours and I’d love to see a revival to the point where his… Read more »
A close game.. again.
We need to be better to put away these ‘smaller’ teams. But the fight boys showed to come back and win was exceptional. Saka,Martineli good but Kai was great. He isbthe difference maker.
Sadly for Jesus, I think its over. He nonlonger fits the play and was a passenger all game. Sterling needs to up hos game. Too much dribbling and no end product.
It’s his first start for us. He’s never played with Jesus, or with Calafiori. Relationships take time. For Jesus, he’s in a similar funk as Martinelli was before his goal last week. Watch what happens as soon as he scores. We’ll need him.
Great game in the end. I thought TP5 was good particularly in the first half filling up at right back. Calafiori is brilliant going forward but it’s a bit uneasy the number of times I get to see the back of his shirt with the opposition attacking our box. Speed isn’t one of his strengths but I’m sure Arteta will work with him on that. I love the fact that Martinelli is getting his mojo back; very promising for the season. Harvertz just got into the record books and Saka putting in a captain’s performance with a goal and 2… Read more »
I think with the right side attacking triangle being non-existent and TP sitting back, Calafiori was probably given leave to go. I loved it, and I thought he was careful to avoid tactical fouls on his recoveries, trusting in Gabriel and Jorginho to shut things down. Some of Calafiori’s touches were insanely good, and he’s so dominant in the air I don’t think he was even being challenged after a while. I hope he’s robust, since we seem to have a problem with talented-but-fragile FBs.
The amount of doom and gloom here, you’d think we lost. Man City struggled at home against Fulham, Liverpool laboured to a 1-0 win against Palace, this is the Premier League, there are no easy games. Nothing from today’s performance tells me we won’t win the league, we’ll be in amongst it come the end of the season this is a team of fighters
Fair point.
We do need to improve to win it though. Looking at the results/performances of other teams is comforting, but we have to be the absolute best to win it, no excuses.
In January, another quality attacking player is a must. Giving mid and bottom of the table teams hope in the second half of games with poor quality play in the final third will cost us dearly if improvements are not made
Arsenal have coped well with the loss of Ødegaard so far, but I am wondering how they cope if Havertz gets an injury! That is how integral I think Havertz is to our play right now. I hope he stays injury free.
— First half was perfect in every way except the final pass/action in the oppo penalty box — Odegaard was missed today more than in prior games. Needed a second small space wizard next to Saka against that low block. Needed Nwaneri. — Should’ve been out of sight by 10 minutes with all the high turnovers and situations we created from them, but execution was not there — Their goal was well taken. I have no complaints about the action on Sterling. — Second half left hand dynamic created access to the half space in our box with overloads after… Read more »
Just watched the game in Tokyo at the Highbury Pub. Packed to the rafters. What an evening . Met so many lovely fans from all over the world. Such a great experience . Bloody love this club. Xxx
With the Trossard and Havertz 9 10 partnership starting to really gel in Odegaard’s absence, Martinelli starting to get his groove back and an international break ahead Arteta’s starting lineup was a real head scratcher. I get trying to work in Sterling and Jesus but it seemed unnecessarily risky to start both. At 0-1 down it could have gone sideways if if it wasn’t for Kai’s leveller. It’s a long season and Arteta should mix in Jesus and Sterling with a bit more patience. If we started with Trossard and Martinelli think the game could have been done by half… Read more »
I do not feel triumphant. I feel relief. Streams of consciousness are hard to edit. I’ve stopped trying. So, trigger warning for those who require organization. Partey has played remarkable number of minutes for a man with an uneven fitness history. I thought his passing today, particularly the long balls to Saka were outstanding. Today he fed Saka quite a few balls directly from his RB position that were both inch and pace perfect. I fear he will get banjaxed playing for Ghana. Thomas seemed untroubled defending, except on the goal. He was in a good position but ball watching.… Read more »