Southampton v Arsenal: the tactics, the statistics and past results

Southampton come off noticeably better with cards against them at home as opposed to Arsenal with cards against them away – the first figure is yellow cards and second red.  However Southampton give away more fouls at home than Arsenal do away – and yet as just noted, Arsenal get many more cards.  Of course it could be that Arsenal’s fouls are “worse” but I wonder…

Certainly Arsenal win two fewer free kicks as a results of fouls against them in each away game than Southampton do at home.  Curious that.

But on a more positive note we can see that both will be vying for possession – and clearly both sides cannot keep their possession rate up to the average levels.  Southampton at home you will notice take almost four more shots than Arsenal away to score each goal (15.9 against 12.6).

Whether or not Arsenal have any chance of getting fourth spot, who can say – it is not entirely in our hands.  But nevertheless the victory over Man U was particularly welcome, and if we can show half the form we had in the Cup victory over Southampton away, then all will be well.  And for there to be any chance of fourth we do need to win this.

On the other hand Southampton’s manager is under a spot of pressure, as the club have won two games in their last eight, and scored two goals in their last four games.  And the club does have ambitions to be more than a mid-table organisation with occasional flights of fancy.  They did indeed win the FA Cup in 1965 and came second in the old First Division in 1984.  And they have been FA Cup runners’ up three times, although two of those were at the turn of the century.  The turn of the 19th/20th century that is.

Of the various items of injury news mentioned in the last post the big news was that of Virgil van Dijk the club captain and leader, who is out for the remaining games of the season.  It’s a blow for them.

So to the other snippets of statistics.