Fifth Placed Gunners Taking It To The Wire?
May 10th, 2017 by 'holic
Arsene Wenger made the one expected change for the visit to St Mary’s Stadium, bringing in fit-again Skhodran Mustafi for the injured Laurent Koscielny. The captain’s armband was taken by Petr Cech in Koscielny’s absence.
In the opening minute we survived a scare when Bertrand’s fierce cross from the left flank drew a smart stop from Cech. A couple of minutes later Redmond found Davis in space outside of the area but his long range effort sailed over the bar. Redmond and Bertrand had further efforts as the hosts made all the early running. The Gunners slow start was an early concern.
Finally we made inroads at the other end as the quarter of an hour mark approached and Aaron Ramsey swept an effort just wide of the near post following an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cross. A break saw Gabbiadini fire another low cross from the left flank to which Cech was fortunately equal.
Ramsey and Mesut Ozil combined to feed the Ox who saw his drive blocked by the massed ranks of the Saints defence. Alexis too found his effort from the other flank blocked as the Gunners started to dominate the possession and probe for the opener.
A rare break just before the half hour saw Southampton win a corner in a goalmouth scramble, but the set piece came to nought. We survived another scare when Cech made a fine block with his outstretched left leg to deny Gabbiadini at point-blank range. Back came Arsenal only for Stephens to deny Ozil with a wonderful sliding tackle in the box.
The sight of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being treated for what looked like a hamstring problem meant an early end to his return to his former employers. What a shame he suffers recurring injuries of this nature when he is so close to fulfilling his early promise this season. On came Hector Bellerin for the final 55 minutes.
When Mustafi’s sliding tackle was adjudged to be worthy of a free-kick Gabbiadini hooked his lob well wide of the target, thus preventing a controversy. Three minutes before the break Redmond’s superb thirty yarder brought the best out of Cech as Southampton came back strongly.
As the half drew to a close Danny Welbeck looked to be bursting clear on goal but he was cynically felled by Ward-Prowse for the first yellow card of the match. Ozil’s free-kick found Mustafi but Forster clutched his header with ease. With the last meaningful attack of the half Bellerin almost turned provider for Welbeck with a driven cross at the near post. The deadlock was unbroken, the nerves were growing, so important were all three points to the Arsenal.
Once again Southampton started the second-half the brighter, and Davis fired another effort over Cech’s crossbar in the opening minute. Ward-Prowse felled Nacho Monreal with a flailing elbow and on another day might have seen a second yellow card. Referee Jon Moss was in generous mood.
Five minutes in Ramsey’s volley from a Bellerin cross was deflected wide of the mark by Welbeck, who had absolutely no chance of getting out of the way. Alexis played a chip in the direction of Ozil who couldn’t quite reach the ball with an attempted backheel. The Gunners build-up, not for the first time, lacked pace and creativity. As the hour mark approached surely a greater sense of urgency would appear?
It did and it was inevitably Alexis, fed in by Ozil, who conjured up a finish that gave the team something to defend. So typical of the Chilean who had not enjoyed the best of games up to that point. Some pretty special Gunners have scored at Southampton down the years, but few of those goals were as potentially significant as this one.
Southampton 0-1 Arsenal
Granit Xhaka stung the palms of Forster with a superb effort as the Gunners favoured attack as the best form of defence. In a bid to shake things up Claude Puel, a Ligue 1 winner as a player under Arsene Wenger at Monaco, sent on Boufal and Long for Ward-Prowse and Redmond. It almost worked immediately but the visitors survived another goalmouth scramble. A second goal was needed at this point.
Ozil picked up a rare yellow card for a foul on Boufal as the Gunners dug in to preserve that precious lead. When the same player laboured over the taking of a corner with thirteen minutes remaining he risked the further wrath of Mr Moss. Again the official took the lenient view and indicated he was adding on the time.
Southampton sent on Rodriguez for Tadic and Olivier Giroud replaced Welbeck with just over ten tense minutes to go. John Champion was overly keen to point out that the Arsenal were hanging on for what would be their first league win at Southampton for fourteen years. That looked nailed on when Giroud, with almost his first touch, headed beyond Forster at the far post when teed up perfectly by Ramsey.
Southampton 0-2 Arsenal
Francis Coquelin’s introduction for Ozil as the clock ticked down gave the travelling faithful the chance to serenade the World Cup winner in appreciation of his efforts on the evening. Three added minutes provided no consolation for the home team which would have provided a very tidy return for the ‘holic pound. A near miss for sure.
Far more important were the three points that carried us over Manchester United into fifth place. One more to go? At least we are still in it. Stoke on Saturday will be no easier than tonight. I hope the fingernails grow back in time!
49 Responses to “Fifth Placed Gunners Taking It To The Wire?”
1st?
Well played Arsenal! We played with a purpose to start with then dropped off a little as there were few scary moments!
Overall a hard thought win! A job well done!
Speedy Gonzales does it again thank you Holic!
Goal!
Pulling ourselves together a bit?
Get right IN!!
The team can play.. when they want to!
Orcs Next..
and F-Off Moaninho… Celta shall have your scalp on the morrow.
Up The Arse!
😀
Great report. Didn’t see the game. Didn’t need to with Holic on the keys.
Like BtM didn’t see the game, so indebted to the Guv’nor. Seems like it was an ugly win beautified by a moment of Alexis magic. But three points is three points, especially at this increasingly pointy end of the season.
Just seen a clip of Alexis’s goal. Beyond his magic in the box, that goal was made by three touches and a run by Ozil.
Didn’t see a second of the game but it was only a matter of time before the old fetlock claimed the Ox.
Ah well, he’ll be Liverpool’s problem next season 🙂
I watched on a dodgy stream which kept freezing – a way of seeing the game I hate. It was the NBC stream and I muted the commentary. I thought we gave it our all and were really physical again, like in the semi final against City. I thought Ozil had a great game. As for Sanchez, well what can I say. He’s been rank poor in the last couple of games but produced a real moment of magic for the critical first goal. Ramsey and Cech again good games.
I had a ticket for tonight but had to give it away due to a last minute meeting. In the FA Cup game I didn’t get home until 1am and it kicked off earlier. I prefer going to watching on streams though!
Still don’t think we’re going to finish 4th (nor do I care) but lovely to see the fight and skill coming back in time for the Cup Final.
Get well soon Ox!
Holic thanks for this excellent account.
Like a lot of regulars I missed the game and had to follow by text.
AW still has the ability to rally this team and if Liverpool falter we might just do it. If only to upset the Totts it would be great to get CL and win the Cup. Then who has had the better season ?
Ox is an injury waiting to happen. It must put his Cup Final in doubt …yet again.
Thanks all. We’re in with a chance. The last away game this Saturday is so pivotal.
Evening H
And don’t think that thug Hughes won’t be winding up his Neanderthals to kick the crap out of us on Saturday night.
So it will be shin pads back and front.
They have conceded 20 goals at home this season,so not quite as secure at the back as usual,which bodes well for us as the 2nd highest goal scorers away in the league top 6 with 34.
Last Arse side to win at the Saints in the league before tonight,were the Invincibles.
So we have laid one bogey to rest,can we lay another one to rest at the Middle Kingdom. ??
Hopefully a strong Ref will get the gig and our playmakers will get some protection,but i won’t’ be holding my breath.
Top 4 still not in our own hands,as e even if we do manage a win on Saturday,Hammers still have to do us a favor on Sunday against Pool.
Watched the game on a mate’s telly – USA TV coverage via one of those illicit stick thingies – truly shocking anti Arsenal bias to put Sky and BT to shame from the US commentary team.
Great performance in the second half against very obstinate opponents. Same again vs Stoke please.
Watched the game like always on SBB.
Decent win.
Next.
Three points rather tamely donated by the Saints who might have done better had they not been thwarted by Cech in an otherwise dull first half. Not that I was expecting much after Danny got the job of leading the line yet again. AW seems frightened to change a winning team, even though different opposition present diffent challenges week on week.
But so far he’s been a winner when it matters since inviting disaster with his last ditch 3 CB tactic, so who am I to criticise! Or is it that only the neighbours have had a plan to attack this weakness? Manure certainly didn’t seem to care if they won or lost, and Middlishborough, Lesser and now the Saints just weren’t good enough to match us whatever tactics they adopted.
My worry is still that we aren’t scoring enough to ensure our GD ends above Poo’s, should we end up on equal 4th with them (and any combination of results could have that end). And still we leave two of our three top goal-scorers on the bench and have to watch Danny hopelessly out of position whenever we threaten. Thank Dennis Alexis was where Danny should have been to show him how its done, and for OG’s settler just three minutes after replacing Danny.
Congrats to Alexis for his (beautifully taken) 20th Prem goal of the season and 26th overall. He’s also 3rd in goals per minute of those actually scoring regularly at a goal every 149 minutes played, behind OG (a goal every 114 minutes), and Theo (a goal every 129 minutes). A pity we don’t see more of the latter two instead of watching others shooting wildly left, right and over the top.
But I’m probably alone with that thought as I am with many of my opinions… 😀
You want a strong ref for the Stoke gig, Clive? I’d have Jon Moss every week. That’s the 16th win out of 18 times he’s reffed us, with 1 draw (away to Norwich) and 1 loss – the dreadful 0-4 away to the Saints which no ref could have saved us from.
Yes, the Invincible were our last side to win at St Mary’s in the Prem but we did dump them out of the FA Cup in January this year courtesy of a Theo hat-trick.
Re: The strong referee. Some of these NFL referees look strong enough to strangle small mammals.
http://profootballmock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Ed-Hochuli-NFL-Ref-e1348769661355.jpeg
@ Chris
IMPO an unwritten rule you never change a winning team unless you have to
Back to the game we allowed Southampton too many good moments throughout the game , in the end class told when the chances came we took them
COYG
Cheers H! Top result.
So that means we omit Koscielny if he’s fit for Stoke, Steve V?
I agree we allowed the Saints too many chances, and they are a relatively small team. God help our defence against the Stoke monsters. That is reason enough to revert to 4.2.3.1, imo.
The 1 being OG of course. We need his defensive talents against Stoke. Not to mention he’s a better CF than Danny, again imo. 🙂
Thanks for the excellent report Holic. The game I saw, mate. Remarkably the game was on tv in our hotel room in Valencia. Why are British fans so ill served compared to foreign fans?
Alexis had, bar his fine goal, a mare. I’m with Chris (for a change) in that Danny does not look like a CF, his main asset being to pull the CBs about but he is rarely where he should be when the ball comes into the box and when he is his connection is flawed. Mind you FFSFeo is no better in that position. I would certainly play OG there v the Orcs.
Very sad for the Ox.
Giroud scores, Welbz doesn’t, simples. More to the point, why do we always go on an annual storming run, precisely after a collapse and precisely the moment I say “I’m done with this shower” ? I think I know the answers actually (ie, no pressure, other mid table teams don’t give a toss, Wenger gets pragmatic about defending, etc,etc). But I suspect the real reason is just to piss me off every year. I’m not paranoid but everybody’s clearly out to get me. COYG.
Bad news for those who don’t know. Mike Dean is our referee on Saturday. ?
I must have watched the same stream as Countryman as I missed the Ox leaving the pitch. I caught up with Sky’s highlights this morning and noticed he left the scene in tears. Looks as though he will miss out on the Cup Final, very sad for him as he has missed out on our last 2 Finals.
Cech kept us in the game in the first half where I believe we didn’t have a shot on target. We were more mobile after the interval and I thought the better side. The Alexis goal came at the right time and was a terrific effort. Suddenly we started to play with more confidence with Hector, Granit and Mesut going forward with purpose and a second goal looked likely. An unmarked Giroud put away an easy chance and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
The back 3 looked less solid without Kos. We were lucky to survive an attempt to catch 2 attackers off side, Cech coming to the rescue.
We are still in the hunt for CL football and I have been talked into going to Stoke on Saturday a trip I have always avoided. I’m not the luckiest of away fan. So far this season I have watched 1 goalless draw and 3 defeats. Surely my luck must change and Saturday would be the ideal time, fingers crossed.
COYRs
Hi Delia
Good luck at the swamp on Saturday. I went last year in the depths of winter with snow on ground and froze to death from the feet up so I’m giving it a miss this year (the ground has gaps in each corner so the wind whistles round!). At least it should be warmer this year!
Listen out for the locals’ favourite song, the one about Ramsey walking with a limp!
Noooooooooo!!!!
FFFFF Miiiikeee Deeeeeeaaannnn!!!
Off to make some sacrifices…*grumble *grumble..
It is Stoke that should be more worried about Mike Dean. They have won only 28.6% of their games in which has officiated whereas we have won 40% of ours.
Dean has only ref’ed one of our games against Stoke, the 3-1 home win in 2013-14. Ozil got three assists that day. Ramsey, Mertesacker and Sagna scored.
With that away track record Delia,i think you my well be kidnapped sometime on Friday.!!
Dean to score us a brace then, Ned?
Lawrenson predicts Arsenal to win and Liverpool to draw this weekend. Much has to go right for us for that to happen but if it does happen we would be back with our Champions League spot in only our power to win or lose. Probably to lose, of course. 🙁 😉
bt8b@32: the numbers imply that both sides lose, but us more narrowly than them. Weird or what? I think only cba could make sense of that.
I agree with you, bath, that Theo is no better than Danny at CF and I’ve never wanted to see him there. My ideal setup would be a conventional 4 at the back, Ox and Xhaka in front of them, Theo and Alexis on the wings with Rambo inside and OG at CF. But given Mesut couldn’t get dropped if he shot the club’s mascot then he would push Rambo back to DMF in place of Ox.
Or, I wouldn’t have a huge problem playing Alexis in place of OG up front with Danny at LW.
…and I have completely forgotten Santi in the above! Whatever, we have a better squad than any of the three teams we have yet to play so it matters less who we send out than who actually turns up to play.
Chris @35
Gunnersaurus getting shot? It’ll never happen.
This sounds like a job for…
???
?????
Thanks H. The fact that the tennis in Spain over ran meant I didn’t even manage to record the highlights????? Only just seen the goals.
Just also found out that it was a big blow out on the cup final ticket front. Oh well, at least some Under 7’s manager in the Devon league will get rewarded as being part of the FA Family. Bless the FA.
I’m sorry to hear about the Final Steve. I had forgotten to look and when I did I learnt I had been successful. I will go much more in hope than expectation.
A friend who was way down the Club Level list has just been offered two tickets. Word is they are really struggling on renewals.
Bt8 is right about this weekend. I had dinner last night with a Mickey Mouser who is certain Liverpool are going to blow it.
TTG.
So did one membership in club level get you 2 tickets or does he have 2 memberships???
Sorry Steve I only realised what I had put after I posted.
The Club Level Seats are for next season, nothing to do with the Cup Final . My point was that they are finding it hard to shift the Club Level seats for next season .
*shuffles awkwardly afoot*
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?
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“I put it to you , m’lud .. . . .”
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long tail shovel
*puts black hankie on head*
*puts elbow on shovel*
Well played Chelsea. A thoroughly deserved title. And they kept it away from Spuds. Best possible result, given how far away we were.
When we beat them 3-0 I hoped it would be the springboard for a run of victories that would go a long way to deciding the league. Funny how things go.
Whilst we may not be as consistent as we need to be to win a league we are good on our day.
The Cup Final is our day.
UTA
Not a surprise about club level. Ridiculously expensive despite the excellent position in the stadium. There certainly has to be a champagne and caviar product to justify that ludicrous price.
Job done, and it feels great! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>