Arsenal Vs Southampton: Highlights and analysis – Welbeck wonderland

Arsenal hosted Southampton on Sunday afternoon as the Premier League continued. Here is the full recap, all the highlights and analysis of the 3-2 win.

While it was nice for Arsenal to earn the victory, even if it was a little undeserved, the result didn’t really matter in this one. It was a strange old game. Twists and turns. Extended periods of fairly boring play. Some poor defending. Some good attacking play. Late goals, missed chances. But in the end, it was a much-rotated Gunners side that pocketed the three points. Arsene Wenger will be most pleased.

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It was a nervy start for Arsenal. By the 20th minute, Southampton had had four attempts. The Gunners had none. Of those four attempts, many came because of uncertain and hesitant defending, something that a tense Emirates has come accustomed to for many years. Both Shkodran Mustafi, who I will get onto, and Calum Chambers were guilty of some odd decisions, with Shane Long and Dusan Tadic both coming close, Petr Cech saving well from the latter.

It was that unconvincing defending that led directly to the first goal, a goal that Southampton utterly deserved. As a cross came into the penalty area from the right flank, Mustafi, positioned nicely at the near post, has an easy chance to clear. But instead, he confers with Petr Cech, isn’t decisive in his play, and allows Shane Long to nick in ahead of him and poke a shot into the goal. Embarrassing, to say the least.

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And Arsenal struggled to create chances in their attempts to haul their way back into the game. Their passing was loose and clunky. The movement was lethargic and directionless. Shooting opportunities were few and far between with Southampton disciplined in their positioning, rarely pulled out of their shape.

However, the game, thankfully, changed on an inventive series of touches from the Arsenal attack. First, it was Alex Iwobi playing a one-touch pass into Danny Welbeck. The Welbeck flicked a lovely a little volley behind him, into a space for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to scamper onto. Aubameyang did indeed get their first, before cleverly prodding a cute finish past the onrushing Alex McCarthy.

That goal gave the Gunners confidence. Although there were moments of uncertainty at the back, predictably, they were a little more convincing, direct and intentional in possession. The second goal came in a sweeping move involving Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck, the former feeding the latter with a smooth, sliding through-pass that Welbeck collected, darted inside with, and fired into the top corner, taking a rather fortunate and beneficial deflection along the way.

Arsenal ended the half in control of the game, though never really threatening the Saints’ goal. They passed it neatly without ever going anywhere, but also stemmed the concerning flow of Southampton attacks at the other end. Given the pattern of the game in the opening 20 minutes, that control was most welcome.

The second half started in an equally even fashion. Southampton played some nice football, with James Ward-Prowse at the heart of much of it, while Arsenal struggled to control the game, lacking the extended periods of possession that they usually enjoy at home against the lesser sides.

Shane Long did put the ball in the back of the net with a lovely, first-time finish to angle Cedric’s distanced strike into the bottom corner, but it was pulled back for offside, much to the chagrin of the Irish centre-forward. Cech also denied Long just prior to the ruled-out goal from a downwards header, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Granit Xhaka both had strikes well saved by Alex McCarthy. It was a far bittier, scrappier game after the break, with the nagging Shane Long disrupting the Arsenal flow, and neither side were able to put together some nice phases of play.

That was until the 73rd minute. Arsenal failed to clear a cross at the far post, with Calum Chambers struggling to deal with the threat. Southampton collected the ball, sliced their way through the Gunners defence, including a lovely one-two between Cedric and Dusan Tadic, skinned Calum Chambers again, fired a low cross into the six-yard box, and watched as super-sub Charlie Austin turned it home.

It was at this point that it turned into the Danny Welbeck show. First, his customary miss. Jack Wilshere did brilliantly at the far post to acrobatically turn a volley back across the goal, only for Welbeck to fail to get his leg high enough to turn what was an awkward half-volley into the gaping net.

Then, redemption. Alex Iwobi freed himself down the right flank, jinking his way inside to earn a yard of space. He then simply clipped a cross into the box, standing it up at the far post. Welbeck was on hand to meet it, rising above Cedric and powering a header down, into the ground and past Alex McCarthy.

That would be the final key piece of the action, at least in terms of football action. There was a fight late on between Jack Stephens and Jack Wilshere. The two had battled for the ball. Wilshere pulled, and eventually ripped, Stephens’ shirt in a fairly aggressive manner. And then Stephen retaliated by pushing Wilshere into the ground. The two squared up, tempers flared, and a red card was brandished for the Saints defender. But the controversy did not end there. As the free-kick was about to be taken, Mohamed Elneny got involved in a little argy-bargy, putting his hands up to a couple of Southampton players. He too saw red.

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That said, Arsenal were able to see out the game in relatively comfortable fashion, even with Southampton’s late huffing and puffing. The Saints will be dismayed that their performance did not earn them a greater reward. They certainly deserved it. But Wenger, having rotated heavily with the Europa League in mind, will be happy that

Highlights