3 positives & negatives from 3-3 draw against Southampton

Another slow start from Arsenal saw the Gunners head into half-time 2-1 down to Southampton, and although a late rally ensured Mikel Arteta’s side rescued a point, the draw does swing the title race even further into Manchester City’s favour. 

An early mistake from Aaron Ramsdale gifted the Saints an early lead, which was doubled soon after by ex-Gunner Theo Walcott. The result could be a potentially fatal one regarding our title push this season, but there were still positives to take from the game.

3 positives and negatives from 3-3 draw against Southampton

Positive #1: Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka

As Arsenal fans, I believe sometimes we forget just how lucky we are to have these two players representing our club. Not only are they frighteningly good – they boast a combined Premier League goal involvements figure of 44 this season – but they are also incredibly young. At just 21 years of age, the pair are still in the developing stage of their careers and are yet to reach what would be considered their prime years.

Against Southampton, they were once again two of our best players and were arguably the main reason we had any chance of salvaging the match. The result was disappointing, but our future remains bright with Martinelli and Saka likely to be at the forefront of any success we achieve under Arteta.

Negative #1: Slow start

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this game was how the team started the game. Following our two most recent results, I, and I suspect most other fans, were expecting a reaction in this game – a statement victory to some degree.

However, an early mistake by Ramsdale, which saw us concede inside the first minute ensured that wasn’t going to be the case. To make matters worse, we failed to take control of the game after that incident and soon found ourselves two goals down to the bottom side in the league.

Arteta expressed his disappointment at our slow start to the match in his post-match press conference. 

"“Instead of going one or two-nil up, and everything goes in your favour, it starts to go in a much more difficult way. That doesn’t help.”"

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