Arsenal: 4 positive takeaways from Southampton win

Winning is great. Winning is positive. Winning 3-0 against Southampton is exactly what Arsenal needed ahead of another crunch clash at the top end of the table against West Ham.

That victory takes the Gunners’ tally up to eight for the season, seven of those coming against teams in the bottom half, with all five of the bottom five included. West Ham, if it wasn’t known by now, are not in those brackets.

Sitting in fifth after the result, hosting the Hammers will be another litmus test to find out what this most recent win actually means.

It’s tough to judge an Arsenal side beating the teams they should be beating on home soil and then losing stupidly in matches against the sides in and around them. Manchester United and Everton being prime examples.

Arsenal: 4 positive takeaways from the 3-0 Premier League win over Southampton as Arteta’s side prepare for West Ham clash

But West Ham isn’t until Wednesday. There is still plenty of time to bask in the events of Saturday afternoon, the like that brought some much needed smiles back to north London.

Mikel Arteta fielded the same side that came up painfully short at Goodison Park and it paid dividends. First half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Martin Odegaard quelled some very worrying early nerves, with Gabriel adding a third after the break when Arsenal could have been closer to double figures.

The weekend can now be an enjoyable one with eyes on other results while fingers are crossed, and looking back on the Emirates Stadium while doing so will remind us of all the positives we were served up.

Four spring to mind.

1. No Need For Emile Smith Rowe

Someone this team has become increasingly reliant on this and last season, Emile Smith Rowe was sorely missed up on Merseyside as Arsenal struggled to carry the ball and break lines.

His ability to come deep, receive on the half-turn and go either side is a valuable tool against lower blocks, while his keen eye for goal wouldn’t go amiss in a team without goalscoring strikers.

Nursing a minor injury ahead of this game, he started on the bench with Gabriel Martinelli out on the left and, especially in the opening 20 minutes, it felt like a matter of time before he would be called upon to aid the cause.

But on the bench he stayed.

Such was the level of the attacking performance that his services weren’t required. The job was done without him and Arteta didn’t have to thrust an unfit 21-year-old into the game to potential aggravate his issue. He gets extra rest during a hectic period, which is perfectly timed with that crunch clash against the Hammers to come on Wednesday.

That’s a big positive.

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2. Gabriel is Tidying Up His Game

That might seem like a peculiar thing to say having watched him go flying into a tackle with less than two minutes on the clock, but it’s the way he responded to that which is something noticeably improved from him across the whole campaign.

Even if he’s matched his Premier League tally of two yellow cards from last season, his overall rashness has been toned down dramatically.

Often guilty of going lunging in around the box and giving away silly fouls, there is a composure to the way he conducts himself that was on show against the Saints. Getting that early card (which was pretty rash, in fairness) how he managed the game from thereon in has been a staple of the season.

Having Benjamin White alongside him may be helping, as he too is a hugely calming character with an almost arrogant and laid back style. It could be rubbing off on him.

What the more likely reason will be is his overall maturity. He’s more confident in how he plays, speaks he language better and has developed immensely as a defender across the past 12 months.

Being less fearful of a centre-back pairing is a luxury Arsenal supporters have not been able to cherish for a great numbers of years. Every facet of his game improves each week, and his huge threat from set pieces can’t go without mentioning. When you’ve got an aerial monster you have to find ways to use him.

Plenty of credit goes to Jover on that one.

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3. Best Home Form in the Premier League

Last season was excruciating. Teams would come to the Emirates and treat it like a playground, not a fortress. The likes of Burnley waltzed into Arsenal’s back garden fearing nothing.

It’s evident that teams still don’t have that fear factor when they come to north London, and likely won’t for a while, but accruing the joint-best home form in the Premier League could go some way to remedying that.

Arsenal had to solve their troublesome home form this season. Too many points were dropped in the race for the top four last term, with notable matches like Burnley, Fulham and Everton fine examples of where a bit more steel at the Emirates could have completely altered the landscape.

Granted, the away form is suffering, and while the teams Arsenal have beaten at home have all been games that slot neatly into the ‘winnable’ categories, it’s nonetheless starting to build some momentum on the hallowed turf.

You can only beat what’s in front of you, and with this young group of players they seem to flourish best when they’ve got the fans on their side. This has to be judged by what they do up and down the country and not against strugglers at home, but on the list of tasks before the season began, making the Emirates a ground teams didn’t want to go to was high up on there.

West Ham will be the real test.

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4. More Goals From Midfield

Midfielders who score goals are confident midfielders. Arsenal having two of those is most welcome.

Bukayo Saka will score across this season, even if his tactical role in the team is moulded more towards being a creator than a finisher, and with the strikers drawing blanks it’s paramount that the numbers are bulked up elsewhere.

When you have central midfielders who are more likely to score in their own net than in the opposition’s, seeing Odegaard and Smith Rowe pop up with the goods at the right end of the pitch is something for Arsenal to build on.

In the cases of both they’ve got themselves on the scoresheet in similar fashion: well-timed runs into the box with one touch finishes. Boasting two wide threats like Tierney and Saka who are excellent at cutting the ball back, having midfielders with the technical quality to hit first time efforts is a winning combination.

For Odegaard, perhaps the best aspect of all is that he’s scored this three goals like a perfect hat-trick: right foot, left foot (shin) and header. Nobody is expecting him to be scoring plenty of anything, let alone headers, but such variety in finishing demonstrates his skillset. Especially considering how one-footed he usually is.

With strikers more likely find themselves punished than on the scoresheet, sharing the goals around the team as seen at Southampton and across this season couldn’t be better timed.