Arsenal v Southampton: at home the danger comes from the fans

By Bulldog Drummond

If you think these are difficult times for Arsenal, then spare a thought for Southampton…

Date Game Res
Score Competition
28 Sep 2019 Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton L 2-1 Premier League
01 Oct 2019 Walsall v Southampton L 1-0 FL Trophy
06 Oct 2019 Southampton v Chelsea L 1-4 Premier League
19 Oct 2019 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Southampton D 1-1 Premier League
25 Oct 2019 Southampton v Leicester City L 0-9 Premier League
29 Oct 2019 Manchester City v Southampton L 3-1 League Cup
02 Nov 2019 Manchester City v Southampton L 2-1 Premier League
05 Nov 2019 Coventry City v Southampton L 3-2 FL Trophy
09 Nov 2019 Southampton v Everton L 1-2 Premier League

Nor surprisingly the league table does not look very good from Southampton’s point of view.  They are 19th, six points below even Tottenham Hots.

Club P W D L F A GD
Pts
14 Tottenham Hotspur 12 3 5 4 18 17 1 14
15 Everton 12 4 2 6 13 18 -5 14
16 West Ham United 12 3 4 5 14 20 -6 13
17 Aston Villa 12 3 2 7 17 20 -3 11
18 Watford 12 1 5 6 8 23 -15 8
19 Southampton 12 2 2 8 11 29 -18 8
20 Norwich City 12 2 1 9 11 28 -17 7

As ever we like to have a look at the home or away form of the team we are facing, and it is here that we get a surprise, because of the eight points Southampton have gathered this season, seven have been away from home.

That should stop any of us thinking this is going to be easy.

Club P W D L F A GD
Pts
1 Liverpool 6 5 1 0 11 4 7 16
2 Chelsea 6 5 0 1 18 12 6 15
3 Manchester City 6 4 0 2 16 8 8 12
4 Leicester City 6 3 1 2 15 5 10 10
5 Sheffield United 6 1 5 0 7 5 2 8
6 Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 1 4 1 7 6 1 7
7 AFC Bournemouth 6 2 1 3 7 8 -1 7
8 Southampton 6 2 1 3 6 8 -2 7

Arsenal at home are holding up but the pressure being put on the team by the combined efforts of the crowd and the media at Arsenal Stadium, along with a fearlessness among referees at basically given out any sort of decision they fancy without fear of condemnation by pundits or VAR, means that what should have been wins have been turned into draws.

Indeed given the pressures and forces confronting Arsenal at home, it is amazing that the club has any points at all from the games at Arsenal Stadium.  And yet we remain unbeaten.

Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Liverpool 6 6 0 0 17 6 11 18
2 Leicester City 6 5 1 0 14 3 11 16
3 Manchester City 6 4 1 1 19 5 14 13
4 Burnley 6 4 0 2 11 7 4 12
5 Arsenal 6 3 3 0 11 8 3 12

On the basis of these relative league positions Arsenal should win 2-1 but with the referee, media, bloggers and crowd all wanting to prove a point it could be difficult.

When we have, as we have just seen, a newspaper journalist of a supposedly serious paper telling us that Mourinho joined Tottenham because their finances are in a better state than Arsenal’s – and no one picks him up on that nonsense, then we know anything can be said about anything… and believed.

Arsenal’s last home win in the league was on 6 October, a 1-0 win over Bournemouth.

Date Game Res
Score Competition
06 Oct 2019 Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth W 1-0 Premier League
21 Oct 2019 Sheffield United v Arsenal L 1-0 Premier League
24 Oct 2019 Arsenal v Vitória Guimarães W 3-2 Europa League
27 Oct 2019 Arsenal v Crystal Palace D 2-2 Premier League
30 Oct 2019 Liverpool v Arsenal L 5-5 (5-4) League Cup
02 Nov 2019 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers D 1-1 Premier League
05 Nov 2019 Cambridge United v Arsenal D 1-1 FL Trophy
06 Nov 2019 Vitória Guimarães v Arsenal D 1-1 Europa League
09 Nov 2019 Leicester City v Arsenal L 2-0 Premier League

Clearly it is time for the next victory.

More anon…

2 Replies to “Arsenal v Southampton: at home the danger comes from the fans”

  1. Mark Lawrenson this week, “If you had told me at the start of this week that one of the big clubs would be sacking their manager, I probably would have said it would be Arsenal and Unai Emery.”

    So by his reckoning, Arsenal in sixth are doing worse than Tottenham in 14th. How do the tiny little brains of pundits actually work?!

  2. @Mickey – what brains? 😉

    The anti UE Arsenal supporter has his foot braced with a gun pointed at it. I am still hoping that Xhaka plays in his defensive midfield role on Saturday.

    P really don’t know how UE motivates his team & how they motivate themselves. If the crowd is antagonistic then anything good has less of a chance.

    It is my first home game that I will be watching on TV with a chilled beer.

    COYG – Just play to win without mercy.

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