Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Perez
Subs: Ospina, Holding, Elneny, Xhaka, Iwobi, Alexis, Giroud
Arsenal rode their luck at times against Southampton at the Emirates this afternoon, but a late penalty from Santi Cazorla saw them come from behind to win 2-1.
Arsene Wenger handed full debuts to new boys Shokdran Mustafi and Lucas Perez, the Spaniard given the nod up front ahead of Olivier Giroud. Francis Coquelin returned to midfield with Granit Xhaka on the bench.
The visitors began the game brightly, Jay Rodriguez heading over after a good move down their right hand side. Arsenal’s passing was a bit careless at times, but had Mesut Ozil been on his toes, he might have made more of a situation where he found himself unmarked in front of goal.
Nacho Monreal picked up a 16th minute yellow card as he conceded a dangerous free kick just outside the Arsenal box. It turned out to be very costly when Tadic’s free kick hit the bar, and rebounded in off the back of Petr Cech to make it 0-1. It will go down as an own goal for the Arsenal keeper.
Theo Walcott tried to get us level, heading a Santi Cazorla free kick over the bar. The Spanish international was then booked rather harshly for a show of dissent, before van Dijk turned a Monreal cross/shot over the bar as Ozil got involved.
From the resulting corner, Southampton failed to clear properly, and Arsenal were level when Laurent Koscielny pulled off a brilliant overhead kick to make it 1-1.
The goal seemed to change the momentum, with Arsenal looking more dangerous. Cazorla started pulling the strings from deep, Ozil had a shot blocked after a brilliant Bellerin delivery, Oxlade-Chamberlain saw one deflected over, but the first half played itself out in a fairly dreary way, matching the North London weather.
Southampton made a half-time change, bringing on Shane Long who had tormented the Arsenal defence the last time the two sides met. Jay Rodriguez was the man to make way.
Arsenal spent most of the early stages of the second period in the visitors half, Southampton sitting very deep and trying to deny us space. Ozil’s first touch let him down after a good Arsenal break, failing to control a Walcott pass as he drove into the box.
The German turned provider then, creating a chance for Lucas but his goalbound effort was blocked by Bertrand. Cazorla made a brilliant interception to cut out Southampton danger on the break, and Bellerin fired a shot just wide of the far post, before Arsene Wenger made a couple of substitutions.
Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez came on for Lucas and Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 62nd minute, the England man looking pretty downhearted as he endured another difficult day.
Southampton squandered a brilliant chance to go back ahead when Long found himself with just Cech to beat, but the Irish international miscued his shot and clipped it well wide of the post.
At the other end Ozil set up Alexis but from inside the box he fired his shot just over the bar, and he saw another effort blocked from a Giroud lay-off. The Gunners certainly looked much better from an attacking point of view with the Chilean on the pitch.
Long had another chance to get his goal heading over from a free kick, before the manager made his final change, throwing on Alex Iwobi for Theo Walcott in the 75th minute.
We should have been ahead moments later. After a van Dijk mistake Alexis set up Cazorla, but he seemed to slip as he hit the ball and when it rebounded to the back post Giroud also fell foul of the slippery surface.
A Monreal shot deflected wide but Arsenal could make nothing from the resulting corner. At the other end Cech made a good save but from the rebound Long once again made a hash of what looked like a simple tap-in to almost certainly take the three points for Southampton.
A brilliant cross from Cazorla presented a near post chance for Giroud but he couldn’t angle his header on target under pressure from the defenders. Late on a low Cazorla cross caused mayhem in the Southampton area, Koscielny was left in a heap but Arsenal played on, the ball came back in and the referee awarded a penalty for a foul on Giroud.
After a big delay for treatment for Koscielny, and some gamesmanship from the Southampton players, Cazorla stepped up and drilled it down the middle to make it 2-1.
There was some late pressure from the Saints, but in the end Arsenal hung on to take the three points. It was far from convincing and if Long hadn’t worn wellies it might have been a lot worse, but nevertheless a very welcome three points.
I fucking love Koscielny!
Mourinho is a cunt.
Yeah, that too
We win it ugly and lucky. Lucky that their strikers screwed up 2 goal scoring chances.
3 points is good!
Shane Long can’t finish his dinner
The evidence suggests otherwise
It was a penalty, well a light one, for shirt pulling. Though Giroud didn’t asked for it cause he was too focus on the ball.
Will under the new rules if you are pulling the striker and not going to play the ball is a penalty, any shirt pulling in a big way is a penalty this season we have seen it from corners in other games.
Glad to see ref follow the new rules could easily fucked us.
Also seconds earlier fonte not knowing where the ball is he shot Kos head and that was a stone wall penalty with the ball not near fonte or kos.
Should have blown the whistle for the head injury, wow we were lucky! Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take it!
Turnabout here is fair play, as the fk which led to their goal should have had their player (Redmond?) seeing yellow for diving.
It was a proper tit for tat. Soton have been playing dirty since the days of Koeman. And losing it in extra time over a dodgy penalty made it even more sweeter. Long cheekily clipped kos’s leg last year before scoring so Kos scoring today and him missing sitters was just poetic..
We’ll certainly get punished for nothing in the future and we’ll all scream our head off so lets enjoy once it has gone our way.
koscielny YOU BEAUTY!
Happy Birthday LoLo, what a way to celebrate!
If Mourinho had won the way we won today the media would be throwing superlatives in his direction: winning ugly, this is how you win titles, blah blah blah… when we win this way it’s just ugly
Specialist in failure
I love Shane Long.
It’s difficult to feel confident going into any game as a Gunner these days…..Thank you Santi, for being a rock in the team and digging us out of yet another hole. Very impressed by Mustafi.
Mustafi was average.
Impressed in the sense that he slotted in seamlessly and looked a regular. Contrast that to Perez he clearly looked out of his depth and will take longer to adapt.
Oh come on. He had his moments but he and Koch were out of sync going for the same ball and got in the way of each other. Really lucky not to concede on one of those occasions.
It was their first game together for goodness sake!
But it will take time for them to sync up no?It was their first game together!
Being out of sync means they need to play together more. Not that Mustafi is average. The logic not your strong point I take it?
Well you certainly seem like the maestro of logic. You know you don’t have to be brilliant just because it is you’r first game…. He was average so what? He wasn’t poor as Lucas was.
that’s one of those things that’s bound to happen with a new signing in that position. not really a solid basis to conclude that he was average.
It’d be interesting to see some numbers for Mustafi from 7am but the defence felt mostly solid today and Mustafi seemed to do pretty well.
I really don’t know what you expected from his first game then.
I excpected average. That’s ok for me in a first game but he wasn’t impressive, he just wasn’t.
Vegetable head
Go away you prick.
Love it, one person disagrees with the performance of a player, and its ” Go away you prick” and “Vegetable Head”.
What a civilised and open society we live in where we can welcome opposing views and can have adult conversations without turning into 5 year olds.
For the record, I though Mustafa had moments he will won’t to move on from, but overall did ok and I have no concern about him for the next game.
Yeah I agree with this; I was a bit concerned by how lacklustre he looked aerially. He also got badly caught out by a fairly simple little move for that Long chance that he chipped. I think he’s just settling in though and finding his confidence. It was his first game after all, and if you look back at Koscielny’s first season you would never have guessed he’d become the colossus he is now. And Mustafi is a German international; I doubt both Wenger’s and Low’s confidence in him has been misplaced. He should still be a great complement for… Read more »
Agreed Dennis, his lacklustre aerial ability was shocking!!
I was being sarcastic!
Yeah it was fairly obvious that you were being sarcastic, I think that’s why you got down voted. There’s no need to be a prick just because someone disagrees with you.
I disagree.
He was tidy on the ball and aggressive in the tackle. Not the best in the air particularly at the end when Virgil won 3 or so aerial duels but promising debut I felt.
Perez was interesting, fairly tidy in the link ups, couple of times he wasn’t on the same wavelength though. Showed good determination and bravery in the box I felt. I think he’s going to be a good signing once he’s adapted
Ok let’s turn it around a bit. What if S’oton had scored, and won the game, when Mustafi was ballwatching, chasing the same player as Kosh and by doing that give Long a one on one with Cech? Would he still be “very impressive” or “excellent”?
For me he would still be average.
What if my aunt was me uncle?
What is Messi was shit?
What if Mourinho had a heart?
You call him uncle Ben.
Still wont play for S**rs.
You joking right?
What if Jens lehman didn’t get sent off in the champions league final?
What if you finally start to develop a brain? Ya fuckin idiot those things didn’t happen exactly because Mustafi was more than “average”.
I think we were very lucky to get the win, but I’ll take those 3 points all day long. The first half we were so slow. The team doesn’t seem to be on the same page. I guess the players have just come back from international duty. Ozil really struggled. I would have played Xhaka in front of the defence to protect Mustafa and Kosci. Kosci showing us all he can do a Pele and what an important goal that was! Cazorla had a great game and did well under pressure with his penalty. Sometimes you have to win ugly.… Read more »
I thought coq was brilliant and he really did protect us sticking his foot and wining the ball, xhaka is not a ball winner and thin coq playing today was right decision.
Poor performance but the result is all that matters. A much needed 3 points in the bag.
I have no clue how we managed to get the win in the end but I do not care one bit. Santi!!!
holy hell. still trying to catch my breath.
Better team won today. Koscielny, what a fucking warrior he is!
These are the games we have to win in this intense title race.
Thought we were great in the second half. Just missed that final touch for the goal.
Cazorla super cool as always, with him taking penalties I can just about look through my fingers, rather than hide behind the sofa
3 points, get in!
Great result in the end and loved Santi’s performance, but fuck me, let’s just include Xhaka in the starting xi forever and forget this ever happened.
i can’t wait to see xhaka back in the lineup, but i thought coquelin had a fantastic game.
i agree…didn’t put a foot wrong in my opinion and for me, had a good all round game. his defensive game was solid as usual, No mistimed tackles or fouls, but interestingly, he was also more offensive minded today, mostly passing forward and a number of times joining the attack and trading passes around the saints 18 yd box….probably the xhaka effect?
Instead of who? Coqzorla were our two best players today I reckon.
I’d have took Ozil off when he seemed so tired, brought Xhaka on and shift Carzola to the 10. Ozil seemed really off today. We could have saved him for PSG atleast.. Wenger needs to be brave to shift things up at times!
Yes you are taking the best playmkaer of the world who can react a chance out of nothing in the final third while the result is 1-1 and put xhaka and hoping for deep that he finds a forward with a long ball on that rainy slow pitch. Don’t get me wrong I love xhaka and he could come on but only for coq and that would be a risk considering soton had chances to win the game and only coq was back to protect us at the time cazorla was brilliant but at the end he skip the challenges… Read more »
Agreed. Ozil was off today. It happens, he’s human. Wenger a. Needs to have the balls to sub him and b. Needs to believe the squad is truly strong enough to sub him if his game is off.
Phew, very important three points!!
This won’t do. The defence sucks.
A defence that didn’t concede in open-play today?
The reason for that is spelled Long.
Spelt
http://grammarist.com/spelling/spelled-spelt/
I did not know that dr Strange. Fair one!
Spellend!!!
What the fuck is the deal with goa rush. The reason I watch Arsenal it’s to enjoy the game follow the play because that’s what the team is about. But every fucking minute even to show substitutions. What the fuck
Yeah that sucks, every few minutes they are switching away to other places.Why wont they just let me watch what i’m watching.I seriously don’t care if crystal palace scored against middlesborough.This shit is just annoying
Actually more annoying is when they move to Burnley Vs Hull city not for a goal but for a near goal. I thought that it was called Goal Rush for Chrissakes!
Very lucky I must admit but after Shane long fouled Koscielny before scoring last year I have no sympathy for Southampton. Also I love Cazorla.
Thanks for making me remember! Now it makes sense why I had this sense of strong hate for Long the whole game
Mustafi a bit erratic at times but much more to come from him. Lucas with some nice link up play. Koscielny scores a screamer on his birthday. doesn’t get any better than that.
I thought Mustafi was excellent.
Mustafi was good but not excellent to be honest
Excellent for a first game just after moving countries….???
I don’t think you can call that an excellent CB performance by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe an excellent *debut* performance; we all know how difficult it can be for centre backs to bed in. It takes a while, and he looked remarkably assured for most of the game given it was his first game for us, and his first game in the league as a senior player. But if that had been Gabriel I don’t think anyone would have been calling the performance excellent. It’s easy to fall victim to the allure of the new and shiny, and… Read more »
Yes an excellent debut performance Dennis.
Well that was “hugely successful” 2 shots on target, 2 goals. 100% conversion rate. Well done wenger you nailed it. In wenger we Trust. Sorry moderators, i forgot the T in my last post COME ON YOU RIP ROARING REDDDS
I think Kosc will be thinking if his faced wouldn’t have been destroyed it would have been better 😛 Captain like Performance. Bosscielny.
I hope his cheekbone isn’t broken. It looked bad! 🙁
If it is, he’ll have to wear one of those protective mask things. But his will have skulls and axes and stuff like that painted on it..
I thought Mustafi was sexy
We were slow and awful…. But we had guts of steel and managed to win a game that had draw written all over it……. Southampton are a bunch of time wasting collapsing cunts….
Come on you gunners
Let’s tear PSG A NEW ONE
I laughed sooo hard when Fraser Forster sped up his kicks from goal after we equalised. Time wasting cheat.
Look, no one batted an eyelid when it took Man U 90+ minutes to break down a promoted team the other week. I see no reason to bitch about scraping a win against a well-organised side like Southampton.
We were very poor in the first half-hour, but improved thereafter and while it was never vintage stuff at all, it was enough. Good victory in the end.
An excellent point- to be honest in the last 5 minutes I was thinking ‘this is when the likes of City have that bit of luck and/or steel that is the difference between top 4 and champions’. I think there’s an argument to be made that we should be pleased to see a few wins like that. Especially when we were clearly the better team, as we usually are, but this time unlike perhaps in other seasons we got the last minute winner without being at our penetrative best. And we’re only going to get better from here given that… Read more »
Exactly!…..I’ll take a win anyway you give it to me. pretty football?, the whole world knows we can play, its winning on a bad in the office, when things are not going our way, “winning ugly” is what this team has always been criticised for and now that we are able to do it, whats there to moan about?
Santi. Big hugs x
Laurent Koscielny is just incredible. Clearly the new boys need some time to settle but they did well regardless. Loving this new hunger in theo, winning headers, committing fouls and hounding players, he’s really impressing me and I’m sure if he keeps that effort up the goals and assists will follow, seems a man reborn. The Ox on the other hand…I can’t guess what his problem is but he is too talented to be playing that poorly so often. We got lucky with the win, but that’s part of the game too, there’s obvious room for improvement but there were… Read more »
Everyone was a bit off today. I wonder whether the wet weather caused some of the errant touches and passes.
Poor Ox seems to be in a mental downward spiral. I feel for him but probably time to pull him out of the starting lineup for a bit.
Can only think Wenger was saving players for the midweek game because there is no way we shouldn’t start Xhaka, Cazorla and Özil together when all three are fit, same with Alexis starting on the bench traveling during the break. Long flights everytime he has to go unlike the European lads
As soon as I saw Walcott, Chamberlain and an untested Perez as a front 3 I feared that this might be one of those games. THEN IN COMES KOSCIELNY waaaahh what a goal FM what a goal.Then a dodgy pen. I hope I’m wrong but I really don’t see the possibility of Perez eclipsing Giroud’s goal tallies – he’s another option. Ultimately our failure to sign an striking upgrade could be our downfall.
That’s how champions are made! Lovely goal from Kos the Boss and hope he is alright. Now let’s pick up the points in Paris. I feel this might be our year in the Champions League. Decent debuts from Mustafi and Perez. Mustafi looked great but I feel Perez might need some time to adapt. COYG!!!!
Need Xhaka starting. Coquelin doesn’t offer himself for the ball enough, and there’s too big a gap between midfield and defence. Also…
MOURINHO IS A CUNT HAHAHHAHAHAHHHAA.
That he is. With bells on. A bell clad cunt.
…and what the heck has Mourinho got to do with the match?!
Nothing but it was just lovely to see him lose….to Pep….again!
“Nothing but it was just lovely to see him lose…” period.
Bravo Kos and santi.pitbull performance from the coq. Just get the feeling we have wasted a lot of peak years of Kos by not having a team his class deserves.
Nobody can make feel the way THE ARSENAL does it.
It was a struggle, but it was all the more sweeter, and old ghosts seemed to finally f*ck off.
I feel like I could conquer the whole universe now.
Thank you Arsenal.
COYG!
Mustafi grew into the game well. Perez also was very good. Decent link up play and got into nice positions. Marking from crosses and defence was a bit poor. Must be improved against the bigger teams. A lot to work on but we grinded out a win. Obvious that Xhaka was rested for PSG game on Tuesday.
Give me the players rating already. I cannot wait to give Santi a perfect 10
No doubt that we could have started a better xl. I think considering the team that started, we played really well. We can do better, and that’s the positive thing to take away. Perez wasn’t really in the game but if it wasn’t for some good defending from Bertrand, he could have scored.
We won, and that’s all it matters. 3 points for Arsenal.
Motm Santi deserved to score the winning goal
Good result from a difficult match where the team never really found the rhythm. Mustafi and Perez started a bit slow but improved during the match. Giroud looked barely match fit. Ox was shockingly bad as usual, can’t understand how he makes the first eleven. Still 3 points against a good opponent. Hoping for improvement in the PSG match.
Shockingly bad is harsh. A lot of things didn’t come off for him today, and they haven’t been in general, but it’s obvious what he can bring to the table on a good day. Even at his worst he’s definitely something for the full back to think about, and I think a really good game from Soares was all that came between him and a bit more success with some of those powerful runs with the ball.
Agree with you that on his day he is a good player. Those days just don’t seem to come too often and you can look at his goals and assist stats from his Arsenal career to see that he has never done much to justify a starting position. He could kick on but the time is ticking. Just think that he needs to learn to keep thing simple, look for simpler passes instead of running at the fullback and losing the ball or ballooning crosses from hard positions, and work hard defensively when things don’t seem to work out, something… Read more »
He got a start because (a) Wenger tried to rest players who were on international duty and (b) Wenger was rotating to keep certain players fresh for PSG.
3 points. That is all.
3 point in the bag
Upward and onward the Gunners
Very good match and best team won,mustafi had a good match and Perez could’n get a decent chance,overall Southampton played well against us as usual,they had good chances like us but we created more,at the end we won and a good tree points.cooyyyg.
Blogs, I love your blog, I love the News site, I think I love everything about you!
But if I’m allowed to give one piece of criticism, it’s that I’m missing more of the passion and opinions we see on your blog, in the match reports.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
he is sick. give the guy a break.
Kind of hard to get opinion in when you’re posting the match report within seconds of the final whistle; also consider that the blog is still the centre/center of Arseblog. Try to be a bit more understanding.
He has a lot less time to write the match reports. As a professional blogger myself, the speed with which he publishes them after games is pretty impressive.
I thought the new boys did pretty well. Perez needs to be more selfish, but that’ll come in time.
Also, Theo is really trying hard this season, it’s nice to see.
Slow first half, better second
Santi: MOTM
Kos: Bossed it
We weren’t bad But it took a while to get going. Reckon the combinations and partnerships are kinda just starting to form and I saw reassuring glimpses especially with Mustafi
It was always gonna be tricky coming off the back of the stupid internationals. Just glad we got over the line in the end
Onwards and upwards
Coquelin was good today.. So was iwobi.. I would so love to see sanchez giroud iwobi axis against psg
Good we never signed that Fonte guy eh… what a stupid penalty to give away. He clearly had a big handful of Giroud’s shirt so I’m not sure what they were all so aggrieved about.
MOTM for me today was Coquelin; I thought he had an excellent game and was great on the ball, not only comfortable but really positive and efficient with possession, with none of his somewhat characteristic rashness. Cazorla was a close second; as usual inch perfect with almost everything he did.
Very difficult MOTM to give out, coq cazorla and Kos all killed it today
KOS, it’s his birthday and he nailed a Pele like goal!!!
Was Santi – he was everywhere. Was great to have such a good atmosphere and the crowd got behind the team even after conceding. Few more finished like this will hopefully give fans a second thought before leaving early.
COYG!
I’m usually a big fan of the Coq but today, I feel he just didn’t position himself right when we had the ball. He really did well when they got the ball, mind; but whenever we had the ball at the back, the defenders were crying out for a quick outball, but he was always behind two of the Soton players. I know, Santi could have come to get it too, and he did- after a while Santi realised and started to receive it directly out of the back. Also, Coq almost always passed sidewards and back. That’s absolutely okay,… Read more »
The Ox is terrible today. Wish he went on loan instead of Campbell.
Can’t wait for Kos and Mustafi to gel, they were great today, but there were still a few moments that showed they weren’t on the same wavelength yet
Fortunate win in the end but happy to take it of course. Perez looked like the cheap option he is, but need to give him time.
I am glad for the win but we sure did not look like scoring…
Poor Koscielny will have a birthday dinner with a swollen eye. The man has just delivered a top class performance and got off the mark to get his customary three League goals once more. Loved the celebrations for his goal!
Great character shown by kos and santi today.. Leading the team with experience and nerves. Having said that, Ozil seemed disinterested in being a play maker until Sanchez and Giroud came on. What was that all about? And Walcott losing the ball wasn’t helping at all. Sad to watch how small differences cause the team to slow down and make it harder to play the game we all love. When the usual top 3 were there, it flowed better. Is it the reflection of limited squad rotation by Wenger? Time will tell. Good 3 points and for once we didn’t… Read more »
So much suffering against a team that couldn’t beat sunderland nor watford and was thoroughly dominated by united. Very poor. The good thing are the 3 points!
Now the team must improve and play faster; this passing and passing from left to right and back is not only boring but ineffective. Hull away needs a proof of character as they’re not easy at all.
3 points in the bag. Now onto the next match!
2 points behind Manure…we are talking to you Maureen!…bring it on….
I guess this is why Fatgooner cant be arsed anymore?
Ozil was a bit rubbish by his standards?
Yes, he was. Fortunately his standards are so high that even when he’s rubbish, he’s still better than most.