Southampton v Arsenal: things are not looking so good.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Bulldog Drummond

As you may expect our record against Southampton across the years is not bad, but we did have a bit of a blip in 2014 to 2016 losing four out of seven games.

Date Game Res Score Competition
23 Sep 2014 Arsenal v Southampton L 1-2 League Cup
03 Dec 2014 Arsenal v Southampton W 1-0 Premier League
01 Jan 2015 Southampton v Arsenal L 2-0 Premier League
26 Dec 2015 Southampton v Arsenal L 4-0 Premier League
02 Feb 2016 Arsenal v Southampton D 0-0 Premier League
10 Sep 2016 Arsenal v Southampton W 2-1 Premier League
30 Nov 2016 Arsenal v Southampton L 0-2 League Cup
28 Jan 2017 Southampton v Arsenal W 0-5 FA Cup
10 May 2017 Southampton v Arsenal W 0-2 Premier League
10 Dec 2017 Southampton v Arsenal D 1-1 Premier League
08 Apr 2018 Arsenal v Southampton W 3-2 Premier League
16 Dec 2018 Southampton v Arsenal L 3-2 Premier League
24 Feb 2019 Arsenal v Southampton W 2-0 Premier League
23 Nov 2019 Arsenal v Southampton D 2-2 Premier League

In the last ten games it has been three draws, five wins and two defeats.

In terms of injuries we are still way out in front of everyone – and if Mr Wenger were still in charge all the old tales about his training methods being to blame would be trotted out once again.  Here is the list of the number of players injured among the most injured clubs.  The numbers include players who are banned as well as those injured.

  • Arsenal: 9
  • Crystal Palace: 6
  • Everton: 6
  • Newcastle United: 6

Any theories on why Arsenal get so many injuries would be welcome.  Here are a few ideas…

  • Arteta has based his training programme on Arsene Wenger’s and thus continued the injury blight.  (I don’t believe there was a problem before, but it might be argued).
  • Other clubs know that the referees have different standards for different clubs (see Leicester’s extraordinarily odd record in yellow cards for example) and so let the opposition kick the hell out of Arsenal with relative impunity
  • Arsenal are just unlucky.

Any more?

Here are the details from Physioroom.com

Player Reason Further Details Potential Return Test? Status
Calum Chambers Knee Injury Jan 02: “Further to the injury sustained during the match vs Chelsea, we can confirm that Calum ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee.” 29/08/2020 None Ruled Out
Lucas Torreira Di Pascua Ankle/Foot Injury June 19: “Progressing well and aiming to return to full training in the next two to three weeks.” 07/07/2020 None Ruled Out
Cedric Soares Head/Face Injury June 23: “Integrating back into full training following facial injury. Aiming to be available for selection after Sheffield United.” 28/06/2020 None 50%
David Luiz Suspended Sending Off – Red Card 28/06/2020 None Ruled Out
Sokratis Thigh Injury June 23: “Back in full training following mild thigh strain.” 25/06/2020 Late Fitness Test 25%
Granit Xhaka Ankle/Foot Injury June 23: “Back in full training from sprained right ankle.” 25/06/2020 Late Fitness Test 25%
Bernd Leno Knee Injury June 23: “Sustained moderate ligament sprain. Aiming to return to full training in four to six weeks.” No Return Date None Ruled Out
Gabriel Martinelli Knee Injury June 24: “Sustained cartilage injury during training on Sunday. Further assessments and tests to take place in forthcoming days.” No Return Date None Ruled Out
Pablo Mari Villar Ankle/Foot Injury June 19: “Significant injury which is currently undergoing further specialist assessment.” No Return Date Currently Being Assessed Ruled Out

 

So, what sort of team might we put out and what result might we see?

The BBC’s prediction reads:

“It is hard to see the Gunners adding to their tally here, and their situation is not helped by the injuries and suspension they have picked up in the past week.

“Arsenal have lost two away games on the trot in that time and I think Southampton will extend that run to three.”

However Southampton have lost nine home games in the league this season, more than any other top-flight side, so maybe there is a slightly brighter tunnel at the end of the tunnel 

The BBC also note that “Arsenal on the other hand have lost 10 points from winning positions in their 12 Premier League games under Mikel Arteta – as many as they had lost in their previous 36 combined under Freddie Ljungberg and Unai Emery.”

And we are also reminded that we have a goal difference of zero and have not finished with a negative goal difference since 1976 – the days of Bertie Mee’s rapid decline.

Sportsmole give us this line up, which iNews also run, as does the Independent

Martinez;

Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Tierney;

Ceballos, Guendouzi, Saka;

Pepe, Nketiah, Aubameyang

 

Football Talk are however using the phrase “Confirmed team news” which a lot of others have started using as well.  They have

Martinez;

Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Tierney;

Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka;

Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang

 

The Standard however have opted out of the fun going for… just an Arsenal provisional squad:

Martinez, Macey, Bellerin, Sokratis, Holding, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Tierney, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Ozil, Nelson, Pepe, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Nketiah.

That’s cheating I think.

I tried to watch a previous Sky came on Now TV, paid my £10 and failed to get onto their service.  They refused to give me a refund and say that they have sent me a credit so I can watch this game.  We shall see if it has arrived.

The slavery files

 

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21 Replies to “Southampton v Arsenal: things are not looking so good.”

  2. From what the media are saying about Guendozi and Mikel Arteta, I fully expect him to be dropped and Ozil to replace him – then if we lose it will be all down to Ozil and if we win, we will have been playing with ten men as he was rubbish anyway.

    Just as Unai Emery realised, not playing your best players, invites defeat.

  3. The PGMOL at its normal – does not see a booking for a Southampton professional foul but is quick to book Mustafi for a missed swing of the boot.

    The Gods must be on our side to give Nkethia a free shot at goal.

  4. 4 teams currently playing, both at Half time:

    Watford 11 fouls NO cards

    Burnley 9 fouls NO cards

    Soton 5 fouls NO cards

    Arsenal 4 fouls 1 card

    Whether they catch up or not who knows. Unlikely but maybe. Even so we’ve had to play with our centre half on a card for almost the entire game.

    Well there’s a shock

  5. Watford 15 fouls NO cards = 1 every (infinite)

    Burnley 13 fouls 1 card = 1 every 13

    Arsenal 14 fouls 2 cards = 1 every 7

    Soton 10 fouls 1 red = 1 every 5

    Seems like they bred em tough up North !

    Nothing changes.

    Moving on.

    Played okay. Obviously a bit worrying for half an hour in the 2nd half but apart from the one effort well saved by Martinez, who looks class, I thought we didn’t look in any reel trouble.

    I thought Mustafi and especially Holding played very well.

    Look, it is Southampton so we cant get carried away but a victory is a victory.

    Given how terrible we are, what I cant understand is how we’re just 2 points behind the wonderful spuddies. Hows that happened?

    COYG

  6. I can only assume Alan Smith used to play for Southampton. Hats off to him, his support was unwavering!!

    I absolutely loved the clueless, “the Southampton player clearly got the ball” excuse for a scything challenge on one of our players. It completely amazes me how these people aren’t actually taught the rules of their profession.

  7. We won 2-nil but the unusual conditions failed to raise the performance of either team.
    Neither goal was the result of game play and the silence throughout was
    disturbing to say the least.
    That is not to say that we should hasten to return to normal. We must
    abide by the rules.

  8. @ken &jjgsol… Is Ozil one of our best players? Looks like some of our coaches and quite a good chunk of the fans do not think so. Is he committed to the arsenal cause? I should think there is sufficient reason to doubt that too… Comments from Emery and Arteta have indicated that, as well as the pay cut saga where he was willing to go against the collective to resist helping the club by taking a pay cut

  9. Ante, until the virus struck, Ozil had played in every premier league game under Arteta in 2020 – then it seemed the club needed to get all it’s players to take a pay cut…the only club in the premier league who were in such desperate and dire straits that have done this of course.

    Three players decided to ask where and how the money was going to go and be spent…the outcome of this, was that Ozil was identified as one of those three players and how that information was leaked, remains a mystery stiii, especially as the other two players have never been identified…ever wondered why and who they were as well?

    Since then, Ozil has been, once again, the target of some fans wrath and the media are lapping it up once again as they are able to report the chaos within the club.

    Ante, if you were asked to take a pay cut, would you not want to know how that money was going to be used? Wouldn’t you want to know why your multi billionare employer would find it necessary to ask for this pay cut? Have you thought where this money has gone, because it’s been very quite on that score?

    What do you want Ozil to do, in order to see that he is committed to the cause? I would be eager to know your reasons as to why you think he isn’t.
    The photograph he posted, kissing the badge after being dropped, was interpreted as a challenge to MA by the media, it seems anything he does is always viewed as a negative.

    I will support the coach 100% and that’s the bottom line as they say – if MA says that Ozil can leave tomorrow, I’ll thank him for his services and get on supporting the club as normal.

    Loved the fact we won tonight and pleased Guendouzi was dropped, Martinez was excellent, Tierney was class, we were never in any real trouble and all achieved without Ozil, so no complaints whatsoever.

    As for the comments from Unai Emery,having blamed everyone but himself for the mess he left us in, I take anything he says with a pinch of salt.
    Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago (before the pay cut saga) that Mikel Arteta was saying what an important and class act Ozil was?
    I guess each one of us remembers what suits our opinion on a subject.

  10. ken1945

    “What do you want Ozil to do, in order to see that he is committed to the cause? I would be eager to know your reasons as to why you think he isn’t.
    The photograph he posted, kissing the badge after being dropped, was interpreted as a challenge to MA by the media, it seems anything he does is always viewed as a negative”.

    Spot on. The guy cant do right for wrong. I’ve always liked the guy. I’ve always rated the guy. The problem is, as usual the media jumped on him the second he arrived.

    Part of the problem was how derided Wenger was, especially towards the end of his Tenure and by that I mean the last 15 years !!.

    Basically every player Wenger signed was either a waste of money, a donkey, or a panic buy. All our players were shite, with a a bad attitude, or at least they were right up until the day Wenger sold them when they suddenly became World Class. The main stream media have been slaughtering us because apparently so many of the players we sell go on to such great things. Well of course some do. But EVERY club sells players that do well elsewhere:

    https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/7-players-who-did-nothing-at-spurs-but-thrived-elsewhere/

    It happens.

    So back to Ozil, being so expensive, aligned to a languid style, he was manner from heaven for a media circling like sharks for yet another Arsenal player to bash at every opportunity.

    But lets be honest he’s not alone, the list of players constantly derided in the media, and subsequently their lap dogs at the AAA and AFTV etc, was/is ridiculous

    I think just about the only Player the media haven’t ridiculed at one time or another is Aubamayang, and what do they do? They turn it on it’s head and use him as a stick with which to bash Arsenal. Just a cursory look round the web and you find headlines such as:

    ‘Arsenal cant match Aubamayang’s ambition’

    ‘Petit says if I was Aubamayang I would leave’ Thanks petit. Wright does this sort of thing all the time.

    Given Spurs record and chances of winning anything in my lifetime isn’t funny how everyone they buy is fantastic, and how no ex players keep popping up telling Kane he should leave if he ever wants to win anything ?

    The fact is Ozil’s been dropped for 2 matches. No more no less. WTF ?? Why we can only speculate on. If it’s to do with his stance on the wages situation then it’s shame on Arsenal NOT on Ozil, but we don’t know that. He may just not be impressing in training.

    I must admit and I am disappointed when ozil doesn’t play. To my mind he is absolute class. I don’t have a single issue with his attitude. If I have an issue it’s he hasn’t scored enough goals over the last couple of seasons but given the way he was, or more accurately wasn’t utilised by Emery, that could have something to do with that. But as ken says:

    “I will support the coach 100% and that’s the bottom line as they say – if MA says that Ozil can leave tomorrow, I’ll thank him for his services and get on supporting the club as normal.”

    And that’s the way it is.

  12. @ ken1945

    “…..the club needed to get all it’s players to take a pay cut…the only club in the premier league who were in such desperate and dire straits that have done this of course.”

    That’s a very interesting interpretation. I totally get the argument that Stan didn’t necessarily need to do it but on that basis, it makes it even more difficult as to how you reach the conclusion we are, “the only club in the premier league who were in such desperate and dire straits that have done this of course.” What are these dire straits? How do our finances compare to other clubs? What is it that makes us the only ones who are “desperate”?

    These are genuine questions to which I’d honestly like to know the answers because if you’re correct then we are clearly in a lot of trouble if we have the worst finances of any club in the Premier League.

  13. The result was a victory to the Arsenal despite the bias under which we play. 2 goals scored by our youngsters and our captain selfless with his passing.
    The omission of players by Arteta is his prerogative. We have the right to question and pass comment but our opinion is not decisive.

    The fact that we play with a bias against us in the PGMOL, I think we have been quite amazing. Our players get booked without any ‘think time’ and get kicked without any penalty to the opponent. It is what it is to be an Arsenal supporter.

  14. @Mikey thanks for your response to Ken. If you ask me, I don’t know where he got the info that only arsenal asked players to take a pay cut.
    @ken, let me answer a few questions from your response
    1. Arsenal asked players to take a pay cut, only 3 players decided to ask why? I’m surprised at that statement. Maybe you can tell us if you were in on the negotiations. Are you saying after 2 weeks of negotiations all the other players did not ask why the club needed them to take pay cuts and what the money would be used for? Until you can prove to me me that you were in on the negotiations and that was indeed the case, then permit me to believe that after 2 weeks of negotiations all pertinent questions had been asked and answered, and the rest of the players and coaches felt sufficiently convinced to make the sacrifices, except the 3 musketeers.
    2. What does Ozil have to do show he’s committed to the cause? I believe you mean what does he have to do to be in the team? Only Arteta should answer that and I believe he’s already done so, go and read up his pressers. No Matter what both of us think about his usefulness on the pitch, I’d go with Arteta’s assessment. Kissing the badge you said was interpreted by the media as xyz, I’m not the media, and it is my opinion that kissing the badge is not the same thing as committment.
    3. The same Arteta that praised Ozil then is the same person saying Ozil is ready to get on the pitch now, we should respect his assessment, that’s the job he is paid to do

  15. Ozil has been shown to be a generous human spirit and has put lots of his money into causes he believes in. You or I may not believe in them but that doesn’t change a thing

    If, as it seems he wasn’t happy taking a pay cut I’m fine with that. He will have his reasons. That doesn’t prove anything for or against his commitment to the team, and to say it does is to suggest you know what is going on in his head, which is highly unlikely. Mind reading is notoriously difficult at the best of times let alone during a pandemic so let’s assume for now it can’t be done shall we.

    Personally I am happy with what I’ve seen on the field of play to believe that he is totally committed to the team. He has his good and bad days like most players but nobody else gets accused of lack of commitment when they do.

    The bottom line is Ozil has been dropped for 3 matches. Jeez you’d think he was the only player that’s ever happened to. Why do people have to read so much into it. I don’t get it.

    At this moment Arteta prefers other players. Who knows why.

    It’s no big deal but people have to make a big deal out of it. Why ? Because it’s Ozil that’s why and that’s what people do.

  16. Ante and Mickey thanks for the response.

    Ante
    Point 1. I would suggest you read the statement from Ozils agent, who covered the reasons why Mesut was not prepared to commit until he had the answers – this was not disputed by either the club or the player, so it follows this must have been the case wouldn’t you say?
    Again, it was you who said he wasn’t willing to “help the club” by taking a pay cut, so in what way do you think he wasn’t helping the club, if it wasn’t a financial one?
    Mickey, please explain why we are the only club to have taken pay cuts? Even the spuds, with their current financial situation, didn’t ask this and do you think we aren’t in dire financial situation?
    What other reason could there be? We made a financial loss of over £27 million, according to the latest reports.
    I listen to MA saying the self same thing, when discussing transfers etc etc and as our owner wants us to be self sufficient, we are most definitely in dire straights.

    Point 2. It was you, Anti, who asked if “he was committed to the cause” and if your definition is “playing in the team”, then I would say that he has certainly shown that, as MA selected him for every premier league game, before the corona virus and the salary cut – an unbeaten run I should remind you.
    So I would certainly go With Arteta’s assesment before these two incidents took place and that is why jjgsol asked the question (I assume) and I followed up with my views.

    Point 3. Exactly.

  17. @ Ken1945

    Seriously, the day I believe anything an agent has to say is the day I give up completely. As Nitram has alluded to, kissing the badge is meaningless. In my view, that could quite easily have been staged managed by his agent to show that Ozil is loyal and hence makes him a more attractive proposition in the transfer marker as the agent doesn’t actually care about Arsenal. The bigger the transfer fee, the bigger the agent’s cut – kerchinggg!

    Other clubs have furloughed non-playing staff on 80% wages and I believe some have actually laid staff off. I fully accept that I might be wrong here but to the best of my knowledge Arsenal are still paying non-playing staff. Perhaps the players were asked to take a pay cut to ensure the least well off didn’t have to.

    Numerous clubs have deferred paying wages for both playing and non-paying staff. That sounds very much to me like they have a cash flow problem which in many businesses can be indicative of financial problems which is not what we’ve seen at Arsenal as far as I am aware.

    Tottenham actually announced a 20% cut for all non-playing staff back in March but decided to reverse that decision in favour of taking the government subsidy instead and Levy taking a cut on his £7m salary.

    At the end of the day none of us know the true picture and take what we can get from the breadcrumbs fed to the media together with the vast amount of bull the media choose to make up but it’s interesting to here another point of view.

    On a lighter note (and I’m sure some, if not all of you, will have heard this before but it still amuses me). I understand that Man Utd had to lay off 25 members of staff……..15 referees and 10 linesman 🙂

  18. Mike, taking a pay cut and deferring salaries are two completely different things of course and we are still the only club who have taken the decision to do the former and then, someone within the club leaked the information that three players didn’t agree and named just one of them as Mesut Ozil – yet some question his commitment to the club!!!

    Enjoyed the joke and the banter, let’s agree to disagree and get behind MA and all the players.

  20. Ante, yes I read that as well.
    If Mikel put him on the bench against Southampton, would that not suggest he thinks he is ready then?

    As “AAA” isn’t part of my vocabulary, I honestly don’t know what that means, but if you really think Arteta wants us to lose, the mind boggles and I’m sure that’s not what you mean is it?

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