By Tony Attwood
So for the second match in a row we play the team in 10th position.
Here’s the home and away table
| Home | Away | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pt | ||||||
| 1 | Chelsea | 6 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +19 | 31 | ||||
| 2 | Liverpool | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 10 | +18 | 30 | ||||
| 3 | Manchester City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 7 | +17 | 30 | ||||
| 4 | Arsenal | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +15 | 28 | ||||
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +9 | 24 | ||||
| 6 | Manchester United | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | +3 | 20 | ||||
| 7 | Everton | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | +1 | 19 | ||||
| 8 | Watford | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 18 | ||||
| 9 | West Bromwich Albion | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 7 | +1 | 17 | ||||
| 10 | Southampton | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | +1 | 17 | ||||
Arsenal’s overall run in the last six in the league is WDWDDW Arsenal. Southampton have WDWDDW.
Arsenal’s home record as you can see if four wins, two draws and one defeat. Southampton away have one win two draws and three defeats.
In league points terms that is 14 to Arsenal to five for Southampton. In the goals tally Southampton are not doing too well, it is six for and seven against away. Arsenal are 16-9 at home which suggests we shall see pure defence from Southampton, waiting for the break.
Southampton have only won one of the last five in the leaguethat being their most recent game against Everton which they won 1-0. Arsenal of course are 12 league games without defeat.
According to Who Scored the Southampton characteristics are in terms of strengths
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong– |
and for the weaknesses
| Very Weak |
If compare the statistics of Southampton away with Arsenal at home from whoscored.com we see two very comparable teams.
Southampton away
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arsenal at home
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
which basically says a fairly evenly matched game. Except… these are not going to be the first team players and the ground advantage looks to be fairly great.
What’s interesting is that Southampton can’t turn their very similar possession percentages to that which Arsenal have into a real advantage.
Lastly, just because I haven’t done it for a while, here are the top scorers this season
| Goals | Played | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Agüero | Man. City |
| 10 | 13 | Diego Costa | Chelsea |
| 8 | 13 | Alexis Sánchez | Arsenal |
| 7 | 12 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton |
| 7 | 12 | Zlatan Ibrahimović | Man. United |
| 7 | 13 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea |
| 7 | 13 | Jermain Defoe | Sunderland |
| 6 | 12 | Theo Walcott | Arsenal |
| 6 | 12 | Sadio Mané | Liverpool |
| 6 | 12 | Charlie Austin | Southampton |
| 6 | 12 | Leroy Fer | Swansea |
| 6 | 13 | Michail Antonio | West Ham |
| 5 | 8 | Harry Kane | Tottenham |
| 5 | 11 | Christian Benteke | Crystal Palace |
| 5 | 11 | James Milner | Liverpool |
| 5 | 12 | Roberto Firmino | Liverpool |
| 5 | 13 | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool |
| 5 | 13 | Étienne Capoue | Watford |
| 4 | 7 | Islam Slimani | Leicester |
| 4 | 8 | Nacer Chadli | West Brom |
| 4 | 10 | Heung-Min Son | Tottenham |
| 4 | 11 | James McArthur | Crystal Palace |
| 4 | 12 | Callum Wilson | Bournemouth |
| 4 | 12 | Robert Snodgrass | Hull |
| 4 | 12 | Raheem Sterling | Man. City |
| 4 | 12 | Joe Allen | Stoke |
| 4 | 13 | Sam Vokes | Burnley |
| 4 | 13 | Gylfi Sigurdsson | Swansea |
| 4 | 13 | José Rondón | West Brom |
Starting to shape up quite nicely.
from arsenal.com, in reverse order
Arsenal substitutes: Macey, Bielik, Bola, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mavididi
Arsenal XI: Martinez, Jenkinson, Gabriel, Holding, Gibbs, Elneny, Coquelin, Reine-Adelaide, Ramsey, Iwobi, Lucas
COYG!
Remember my reversed starts and bench which I posted yesterday on the site?
Well, I’ve been to Arsenal twitter account handle and there I saw our starts but our bench for our Southampton ELC match. Although I understand Mavididi who I have on my bench is also on Le Prof’s bench as well.
Notwithstanding, Le Prof has for this match beaten me in my own starts to his own by 2 numbers by starting Elneny against my preferred to start Xhaka at our base. And he has also preferred to start Jeff Reine-Adelaide to my Oxchambo who I’ve started. But I first started Adelaide on my earlier starts of Monday but had to removed him in my reversed starts of Tuesday when a commentter on this site said he’s not inform.
Anyway, Arsenal will knockout Southampton from the competition tonight at the Emirates Stadium by whatever goal margin. Even a 1-0 humbling of the Saints will be more than enough to see us through to the semi-finals where I think we will be asked to knockout Hull City on our ways to the final to lift the trophy, our first among others we will lift this season.
To think of it, I had Macey, Bielik & MarkBola on my earlier early starts of Monday. But I changed them yesterday for other names when Le Prof said, 90% of his team for this match will be senior Gunners.
Ref is being crap again Iwobi card was a joke
Same old Pigmob; Friend in deed is a Pigmob stooge. Books Arsenal players for simple fouls but allows the kicks & pushes from Southampton to go unseen.
Va Cong
absolutely
2-0 out of the mickey mouse cup then…
You’re right menace and AL the gunner its a big joke
kick on Lucas from behind no card!!
foot stomp on Jenkinson right at he beginning no yellow you know what to expect
apparently we can’t touch tap Southampton players we get whistled or carded
What happened to Elneny? Hope nothing serious. I hate this cup, we lose a lot of players to injuries in this Mickey mouse thingy.. won’t shed a tear to go out of this thing. The only positive I can think of is it gives fringe players an opportunity to have the odd run out, but thats it.
crowd boos the ref
Boufal dives as soon as he loses the ball & Friend gives the foul. It is an absolute joke. He kicked Jenkinson in the first few minutes & got nothing but the foul. Friend is an absolute dick.
Not paying full attention to this match but reading the comments here it sounds like this is what Walter was talking about yesterday; how a ref can influence the match by getting under the players’ skin… The sooner we exit this thing the better. It’s just a distraction like the fundraising scams run by Fifa packaged as international matches.
Looks like an Achilles ankle injury from the dirty tackles from Southampton Al. You’re right menace did you see our defense of egg shells when tackling? Its so blatant is just aint funny anymore thats how southampton scored as our defence couldn’t get stuck in as they poodits say
C’mon, you guys are really showing your bias. I fully believe that the PL is corrupt and Arsenal get some of the worst refereeing in the league, but those two yellow cards were both warranted. The two fouls were both done to stop the opposition breaking whilst in Arsenals half; that’s always a yellow and if the same fouls had been done on Arsenal players and the fouler didn’t receive a yellow, then I would certainly feel very hard done by and frustrated.
So far the performance has been extremely poor; lots of possession, but not one shot on goal. Here’s hoping that the players actually start making some movement in the oppositions half!
A trophy is a trophy and I never did understand why people see this competition as nothing.
Thanks Va Cong. Bad to lose such a key player heading into this busy period. Hope he won’t be out for too long…
Nobody getting stuck in either end. More like charades, Friend the master of ceremonies. Who would risk a limb in this game?
Fingers crosed for Elneny.
We’ve started to look good at last. Two shots on target. Must have been the half time boos.
Another foul to Arsenal no card for the Saint!!!!
Also, I think all of my comments are being put into moderation because of my new computer. If one of the admins could sort that out, that would be much appreciated, cheers!
Three on target. Next one will go in
Why is van Dyke not off the pitch following treatment?
Ramsey fouled but the cnut Friend didn’t book the Saint!!! Another holy mess no Saints in this book only Arsenal sinners!!
Forget how young some of our players are compared to Saints
Menace
The rules regarding leaving the field have changed
They don’t leave the field if it’s the result of a foul., and that particular one was a collision with Martinez, so he should have gone off.
Saints certainly have a Friend in the pocket.
Mike T – since when?
Holy grail of how to ref a arsenal game Mike T
I thought that was sarcasm Menace from Mike T so can’t tell without tone
the youngsters forget they get no protection from the ref Leon
The officiating of the match tonight has been nothing short of horrible
Unbelievable Friend PGMO cheat!!!
another yellow for arsenal double standards
Menace
I am not watching your game so don’t know the circumstances but the rule change about in certain circumstances not having to leave the field after receiving treatment were introduced during the Euros and came into the PL from the start of the season
Err, repeat: you don’t leave the field if your injury was as the result of a foul
The refereeing is steadily getting worse. Typical; we are usually not penalised that heavily around Sept/October or April when there’s usually not much left to play for. The period between Dec and mid-march is when they really hammer us.
what happened to gabriel?? no camera on him??
Thanks Mike T.
shafted once again
Only positive about this game was Iwobi, who was excellent all game. Ref was absolutely dreadful in the second half, Ramsey wasn’t great once again (needs to stop all of these terrible shots) and Perez was woeful; lost count of the amount of times he gave the ball away. Whole team seemed completely devoid of any ideas in the first half.
I really hate to be so negative, but I don’t know what else to take from a game like that! Arsenal haven’t been in top form for quite a while, let’s just hope that we start playing the kind of beautiful football that we all know they can play (and that’s what makes it so frustrating).
Determined, focused, working hard and hungry to win, sadly this was not describing Arsenal, but Southampton.
Arsenal on the other hand woke up somewhere in the second half(lately this seems to be a tactic?).
Alas, it was to little too late.
Humbled at home again.
Ah Well!
I can’t even be upset tonight.
The honest truth is that contrasting both sides, Arsenal lack positional discipline
Well Walter its down to your report & Friend was a cheat from start to finish.
Arsenal almost always starting on the back foot
Wenger doesn’t seems too unhappy about the result
Well to be honest guys everyone hadn’t payed with each other and the youngsters were a but slow to start the early goal winded them that is all second half was better thats why they call it a game of 2 halves and a shit referee determine to not give anything to arsenal
Well Leon this is the cup to won lol
I perceive a lack of respect for the opposition. If a stronger bench had been named, a result could have been forced.
It may be a shit trophy but it seems to cost us a lot. I think it is time for us to change our approach. We should field butchers rather than footballers.
As usual, lets blame the referee
In the long run, this could be a blessing in disguise. Looking at the fixtures congestion that would have arisen in January/February when the semi final/ final would be played.
Leon/ Menace
A player is now not required to leave the pitch having received attention when
A goalkeeper is injured
A goalkeeper and an outfield player have collided and needs attention ( this I guess is why he didn’t have to go off)
A severe injury
A player is injured as a result of a foul and red or yellow card is issued ( only if the treatment is quick)
Who needs an enemy when you have this pigmob ‘friend’
Now some blokes find a voice
Leon – read the article & then watch the match & then get a semblance of intelligence before being sarchy! Friend was a cheat start to finish.
Hopefully the injury toll is not too hgh and the flashes of action can be worked on for the benefit of the squad. The first ten minutes of waltzing the ball up to the halfway line and then passing it back to the penalty area so that it can slowly be moved back to the halfway line does actually impose a rhythmn, and it does solve the problem of what can be done with the time, but it only helped Southampton today.
At least, smiles all around, there might be a few weeks ahead without any games midweek.
Match report is on line
No excuses, ref wan’t great but we didn’t look like we could score if we had played till the weekend. When we did manage to get an opening our shooting was abysmal.
Saints youngster Sims looked a terrific prospect, the best of our youngsters was Iwobi who looked refreshed compared to his last game, whilst Adelaide looked out of his depth. Ramsey disappointed immensely, it was an opportunity for him make his mark in the midfield in the absence of Ozil and Santi but he came up short I am afraid. Perez got a run out returning from injury but was given no service whatsoever.
All in all a night to forget.
Menace writes
”We should field butchers rather than footballers.”
With Friend around, you need chimney sweeps, the thinnner the better.
Menace
ref wasn’t the terrific, but nothing like as bad as Moss or Atkinson. You’re so obsessed with cards being issued for every tackle on our players. Such a wind up merchant.
Jammy, think it should be fixed now
Cheers Tony, much appreciated!