Despite two draws in a row from winning positions, optimism was still high among the Arsenal fanbase as they prepared to host bottom of the table Southampton at Emirates Stadium. The game saw first face bottom and few would have felt the need to predict anything other than a home win for Arsenal. Three points against their visitors from the South Coast would have seen the Gunners not only guarantee a finish above their local rivals Tottenham Hotspur for the first time since the 2015/16 season, but also Champions League football for the first time in seven years. However, against the odds, the game turned out nothing like anyone would have predicted
With little more than twenty seconds played, the away side – and more specifically Carlos Alcaraz – pounced on a misplaced pass from Aaron Ramsdale to give his side an incredible start. However, it would get even better for them and even worse for Arsenal as the early Saints opener forced the Gunners to press high, Southampton then sprung a counter-attack and a threaded through ball found former Gunner Theo Walcott to slot his side into a 0-2 lead at the Emirates in incredible scenes.
With the home crowed shocked and stunned, Arsenal needed a quick response, and thankfully that was exactly what they found. Bukayo Saka found a way past the Southampton backline and played a ball across the penalty area for Gabriel Martinelli to smash home his 15th goal of the Premier League campaign and bring the Arsenal crowed alive again. Despite that, they couldn’t find an equaliser before the break and found themselves a goal down at the interval.
Mikel Arteta’s side came out knowing they needed two goals, and to not concede another. However, to the shock of pretty much everyone, Southampton found a third goal as Caleta-Car headed home at the back post against the balance of play in the second half.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, they just couldn’t break through the Southampton barrier and it looked like they were going to sleepwalk to a shock defeat. However, just when all hope was lost, Martin Odegaard curled home a goal back to make it 2-3, and a minute after that, Bukayo Saka turned home a rebound from a saved Reiss Nelson effort to level the scores at 3–3. Despite that, they couldn’t find what would have been an incredible winner and it finished with the points shared and a third consecutive draw for Arsenal ahead of their crucial clash away at Manchester City.
Player Ratings:
Aaron Ramsdale: 3 – Made an awful mistake for the opening goal which unfortunately set the tone
Ben White: 5 – Largely ineffective
Rob Holding: 5 – Not particularly bad but the downside in quality compared to Saliba is obvious
Gabriel: 5 – struggled against the pace of Walcott
Oleksandr Zinchenko: 4 – One of the Ukrainian’s worst Arsenal games. Poor in defence and sloppy in possession. Unlike him
Thomas Partey: 4 – Just like West Ham, a poor showing from the Ghanaian
Fabio Vieria: 4 – Came in for the ill Xhaka and was disappointing. Ineffective in attack and lacked an overall presence. Doesn’t suit the LCM role
Martin Odegaard: 6 – Didn’t stop running but was mostly ineffective. Did score a nice goal
Bukayo Saka: 7 – One of the better players on the night. Assisted the first goal and scored the equaliser. Big improvement from West Ham
Gabriel Jesus: 5 – Had a few nice moments but was mostly anonymous throughout in front of goal
Gabriel Martinelli: 7 – Arsenal’s best player on the night. Scored and was a constant threat. The best of a bad bunch