Arsenal travel to Saint Mary’s at Sunday lunchtime where they’ll be hoping a win against Southampton will reignite their Premier League title challenge, a title challenge admittedly already on its last legs after a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium last Saturday evening.
The Gunners dropped out of the top four following the frustrating loss handed to them by José Mourinho’s men, and will see this visit down to the South coast as a perfect opportunity to gain ground on the two Manchester clubs, who face-off later on in the day, at the Premier League summit.
The hosts have endured a lacklustre start to the 2017-18 campaign, winning just four of their 15 league games so far, and are placed in 11th on 17 points with a smaller gap from the bottom three than the European spots they’ve gotten use to aiming for in recent history.
Match Facts
Southampton’s home record has been fairly average under Mauricio Pellegrino this season with three wins, two draws and three losses under their belts, however, it should be easy to take confidence from the last outing at Saint Mary’s.
Goals from Dušan Tadić and Steven Davis either side of a Charlie Austin double inflicted a ruthless 4-1 thumping onto David Unsworth’s struggling Everton at the end of November, meanwhile Arsenal have endured tough times on their travels.
Positive wins at Goodison Park and Turf Moor have been overshadowed by the four away setbacks already suffered this term courtesy of Stoke City, Liverpool, Watford and Manchester City.
Only Alexis Sánchez (9) and Ian Wright (10) have bagged more goals in their first 15 Premier League appearances for The Gunners than club-record signing Alexandre Lacazette, who currently boasts a tally of eight in his debut season in England.
David de Gea proved to be more than a stern test for Lacazette and co. last weekend, and the task to score goals won’t be made much easier this time around considering Fraser Forster’s strong record against Arsenal – the England international has conceded five goals in five games despite facing 30 shots in that period.
A main man has also emerged for the hosts in recent weeks as well – Charlie Austin has taken full advantage of Shane Long’s on and off fitness by scoring three goals in his last two starts, which have made him the club’s top scorer in the league on four.
Past Meetings
Sunday’s visitors have unsurprisingly enjoyed the most success in terms of the overall head-to-head record - 48 wins from 93 meetings compared to Southampton’s 20 has stamped their authority on the fixture.
Arsenal’s 2-0 win in the last meeting at Saint Mary’s in May was their first win in six league visits, thanks to second half goals from Sánchez and Olivier Giroud, and Arsène Wenger’s side claimed a 5-0 mauling at the same ground just months earlier in the FA Cup fourth round.
An away win this weekend would be the North London club’s first successive victory at Southampton since August 1997.
Team News
Southampton’s Player of the Month for November, Cédric Soares (thigh) is facing a race for full fitness ahead of Sunday after being forced off in the 2-1 defeat at Manchester City, while Shane Long is a major doubt (calf) so the in-form Charlie Austin should retain his place as the sole frontman.
- Austin: 72
- Aguero: 87
- Salah: 94
- Kane: 122
- Lukaku: 169
#BOUSOU
Expect an unchanged starting line-up from the 1-1 draw at AFC Bournemouth in The Saints’ last outing, however, the likes of Mario Lemina and Nathan Redmond will be pushing for a place after James Ward-Prowse’s disappointing first half display at the Vitality Stadium.
Probable line-up (4-2-3-1): Forster; Pied, van Dijk, Hoedt, Bertrand; Romeu, Davis ©; Ward-Prowse, Tadić, Boufal; Austin.
Key centre-back Shkodran Mustafi is unlikely to feature because of the worrying thigh strain suffered in the early embers of Arsenal’s 3-1 loss at home to Manchester United last weekend – the experienced Per Mertesacker should take his place.
The Gunners created enough chances to beat José Mourinho’s side but massively lacked cutting edge, however, it’s more than likely we’ll see the attacking trio of Mesut Özil, Alexis Sánchez and Alexandre Lacazette.
Probable line-up (3-4-3): Cech; Koscienly ©, Mertesacker, Monreal; Bellerín, Ramsay, Xhaka, Kolašinac; Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette.
Referee: Bobby Madley
Assistants: Stephen Child, Marc Perry
Fourth Official: Graham Scott
Coverage of the match starts at 11:30am (12pm KO) on BT Sport 1 or 4K UHD.
RESEARCH
Last line-up (4-2-3-1) v Bournemouth: Forster; Pied, van Dijk, Hoedt, Bertrand; Romeu, Davis ©; Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Boufal; Austin.
Last line-up (3-4-3) vs Man Utd: Cech; Koscienly ©, Mustafi, Monreal; Bellerín, Ramsay, Xhaka, Kolašinac; Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette.
You can follow Sunday's game via our live match centre:
