Arsenal vs Southampton player ratings: Sweet revenge

Arsenal had a chance to enact sweet revenge against Southampton in this one and they didn’t miss a beat. Here are the player ratings.

Arsenal came out with a damn strong starting XI, and it showed early on, particularly in the attack. While a few nervy defensive moments nearly gave Southampton a couple of free handouts, it was Bernd Leno who rose to the occasion to deny the Saints on both occasions.

And just following both occasions, the Gunners were able to strike for themselves. The first coming in the 8th minute, when a series of attacking moves left Henrikh Mkhitaryan for goal – a shot that Lacazette tapped home.

Mkhitaryan got his goal just moments later on a truly tremendous first-time finish off a deflected cross from Alex Iwobi who was, himself, quite the creative force throughout.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Huddersfield, abuse and a difficult question

The second half was nervy at the start, same as the first, with the defense playing a bit sloppily yet again to give the Saints a couple of easy opportunities. It was a bit of a gross half, to be honest, with a lot of the first half finesse so obviously lacking. Still, as we’ve said, it’s the three points that count, and we got them.

Here are the player ratings:

Goalkeeper