Southampton were yet again victims of a late goal, and will feel extremely disappointed, after their 1-1 draw against Arsenal at St Mary’s.
Mauricio Pellegrino made four changes to the side that drew against Bournemouth. Jeremy Pied, Wesley Hoedt, Steven Davis and Sofiane Boufal dropped out for Jack Stephens, Maya Yoshida, Nathan Redmond and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Arsene Wenger made one change to the side that was beaten in a thrilling encounter against Manchester United. The injured Shkodran Mustafi was taken out and replaced by Per Mertesacker.
Southampton knew they’d be in for a tough game, but they got off to the perfect start after three minutes. Dusan Tadic took on Mertesacker and showed great vision to pick out Charlie Austin, who managed to sprint past six Arsenal players and confidently finish beyond the veteran keeper Petr Cech.
Saints should’ve been 2-0 up two minutes later, again through Austin as he was played clean into goal by Tadic, but his shot forced Cech into a quick, reflex save.
Fraser Forster has received his fair share of criticism this season, but he produced a magnificent save after Aaron Ramsey’s drilled shot was destined for the bottom corner of the net, if it wasn’t for a strong Forster hand.
In the second half, Southampton knew they’d be restricted to counter attacking football, due to all the Gunner’s pressure. But, when Southampton did have the ball, they nearly made it count after Oriol Romeu’s distant shot struck the top of the crossbar.
Minutes later, Southampton should’ve doubled their lead through Ryan Bertrand after a quick counter attack. Nathan Redmond played Bertrand in behind from his own half and only Bertrand and Tadic were in Arsenal’s half. Yet, Bertrand was played in one-on-one and his attempted chip over Cech went just wide.
But, Arsenal found an equaliser two minutes from time through substitute Olivier Giroud’s glancing header beyond the stretching Forster.
Southampton fans will be extremely disappointed and although the performance against a team of Arsenal’s level was promising, it definitely feels like two points dropped considering all the chances Southampton failed to convert to put the game beyond any doubt before Arsenal equalised.
It feels like the same old Saints, failing to score the many chances they have and then ending up regretting it. Austin’s form is excellent and he should be starting every single game. Tadic was frustrating and I was surprised that Boufal had been dropped.
But, I was even more surprised to not see Pied in the line-up. Although Jack Stephens did a fantastic job, Saints lacked an outlet out wide at times and were extremely narrow.
Claude Puel makes his return to St Mary’s on Wednseday with his in-form Leicester side.
