Southampton v Arsenal

Southampton were denied a crucial win as Stoke equalised in the 90th minute , it finished 3-3 , manager Nigel Adkins was upbeat despite the draw and said ...We have matured all season and it's excellent to win a point at Stoke. We have a team that are showing a great character and a great desire to do well in this division."


Arsenal needed a late burst to take all 3 pts at the Emirates against Newcastle , it was 3-3 when Theo Walcott started a late goal rush to give the Gunners a 7-3 win over Newcastle ...a hatrick for Walcott and chants of `sign him up` from the home crowd..manager Arsene Wenger will know he has a bit of negotiating to do if he wants to avoid losing Walcott in the new year .

Walcott has been on superb form lately and if not for him, they might have lost to Newcastle. I see him scoring in his reunion with Southampton. Although I thinks this will be a close, 2-3 for Arsenal.

I will be very surprised if the Gunners scored 7 again against the Saints but think they will just take all 3 points.

Southampton 1-2 Arsenal

Another game on TV, we've been on so much recently.

I don't fancy this to be an easy game, but I think we'll bring home three points. 3-1 Arsenal

i would love another goal feast by Arsenal ....but i will also settle for any win ....would love to see Walcott score a few more though against Southampton ...

We need another win today (obviously) but I'd like us to see keep a clean sheet, we know we can score goals but we always look like conceding at the back...

Erm... 3-1 Arsenal is probably a good shout.

Welcome back to the forum Pokers:-0)

Will be posting the team line ups shortly.

Line ups

Southampton:
Boruc; Cork, Fonte, Yoshida, Shaw; Puncheon, Schneiderlin, S. Davis, Guly, Ramírez; Lambert.

Subs: K.Davis, Hooiveld, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse, Richardson, Mayuka, De Ridder

Arsenal:
Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott.

Subs: Martinez, Mertesacker, Coquelin, Ramsey, Rosicky, Gervinho, Giroud

HT

Southampton 1-1 Arsenal

The Saints went ahead on 35' when their record signing Ramirez fired
in but The Gunners leveled on 42' thanks to a beautiful own goal from Doprado.

With Spurs having won today Arsenal really need to win this to keep in contention for a top 4 spot.

yes we do need to win to keep in contention with Chelsea and Spurs ...i hope we can step up a gear in the second half , need to cut out the silly defending .

FT

Southampton 1-1 Arsenal
1-0 Ramírez 35'
1-1 Do Prado 41’ (o.g.)

Any comments on todays result?

Did Southampton deserve to earn a draw?

Have Arsenal now lost some ground in the race to finish in the top 4 by not winning this match?

I thought Southampton probably did enoough to earn a draw, they looked like they might snatch it in the second half with the chances they were creating. Arsenal do look a bit vunerable at the back, but I don't think there is a 'crisis' at the Emirates. Fifth place with a game in hand on the top three is hardly reason for the Gooners to feel depressed. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm sure Arsenal will be involved with the top four places come May.

gutted by this result, it was a must win game for that fourth spot.

History teaches me that Arsenal are capable of putting a good run together at any time of the season so i wouldnt fret yet.

Not this time, I fully expect this to be the season we drop out of the top 4 and that should be enough to be the end of Wenger at Arsenal. I hope we make top 4 but if we don't, that'll be the one good thing for us to look forward to.

This team is so ridiculously flawed. Over a 5 year space of time Wenger has just f**ked up completely with the team and where we once needed 2 or 3 players away we now need a whole new team.

We have no ruthlessess, we have no squad at all. Just a first team and a bunch of players Wenger is terrified to put in unless its absolutely necessary, he runs our first team into the ground.

We have no variation, all our players are small and technical. We have no power in midfield, no pace in the middle. We have no flair players that can individually make the difference (Fort example RVP, Rooney, Nani, Yaya, Aguero) just a bunch of players that rely on “his way” to work. We need a GK, 2 fullbacks, a Defensive Midfielder, a Box to Box midfielder, a winger and a top striker. Thats £100m at least, which is nothing compared to what we have sold in recent seasons.

What an absolute mess he's created.

It just shows you, selling Van Persie has got to be just about the worst decision in the entire history of top flight football. We scrape Champions League football by 1 point, entirely due to Van Persie's outstanding performances, and Wenger decides to sell the best Centre Forwrd in world football to our former rivals, to make them the best team in the country.

My own personal opinion is that Wenger is an egomaniac, and there are 2 reasons he constantly sells top players and that's because 1, he doesn't like any player earning more than him, and 2, He refuses to let any player overshadow “the great Wenger”

Lets face it Van Persie was the main man at Arsenal last year, he became bigger than Wenger, so he had to go. Same for Cesc and Henry previously.

Happy new year, Poker!

Happy New Year Sunshine.

an interesting post Poker ...not without some truth perhaps , selling Van Persie to Man Utd has made them the best team again ..Van Persie is showing already he is the difference for them..let it be known Arsenal have won the title for Man Utd this season .

We were awful against Southampton ....we next face Man City and then Chelsea , that will show if we are good enough to finish in the top 4 this season .

Your on a roll pal ,keep it up!

I will say i agree with you on the team ,and i have said that from lasts season. Which is why i can't believe Arsenal are in the champions league this year at all.
My problem with you is that you tend to believe that Arsenal football club deserves to be higher than 4th place. We can't compete with CHelsea and MAn city's money and we can't compete with Man u's history world wide ,so get your head out of your *ss and wake up ffs. That is the reality we may win the odd cup from time to time ,but if you actually believe we can win back to back titles with the level of teams we have to compete against you are delusional.

Best we can do is target 2 things on our calendar every year 1 cup and premiership survival from this point on ,nothing else is guaranteed. That is the reality of the premiership today, Abromovich won't settle for less and the sheik won't settle for less ,and man u's targeting RVP at that price from a team he wouldn't dream of buying from a few years ago speaks for itself.