Southampton 2 Arsenal 2

On a wet night in Southampton, Arsenal slipped up but will be pleased to have come away from St Mary’s with a point. Having fallen behind to Jose Fonte’s powerful header, they had put themselves in the driving seat with a blistering start to the second half, only to end the game holding on for a draw following Mathieu Flamini’s red card.

Arsene Wenger won’t be impressed by what he saw from his team, woeful as they were throughout the first half – only mustering their first chance in the 44th minute of the game. Southampton had dominated possession, as a slew of sloppy passes and high-energy pressing from Mauricio Pochettino’s team prevented the league leaders from getting into their rhythm.

The goal eventually came from a hotly-disputed free-kick, Per Mertesacker adamant that he had won the ball cleanly from Adam Lallana. Lee Mason, the referee, disagreed, and when Luke Shaw got the better of Serge Gnabry on the left-wing he curled in a cross which Fonte got on the end of to power past Wojciech Szczesny.

Skewed his shot
After that, Arsenal clung on, a succession of chances came and went for the home side, the best of which fell to the 18-year-old striker, Sam Gallagher.

Nacho Monreal miscued his clearance into Steven Davis, it bounced to Gallagher, who found himself clear on goal, but skewed his shot wide.

Arsenal came out in the second half like a different team, and found themselves back in the game after just three minutes. Bacary Sagna powered a cross in from the right, and with a cheeky back heel Olivier Giroud found the net. It took them four more minutes to take the lead, Mesut Özil driving forward, poking the ball through to Santi Cazorla, who found the corner from the edge of the area. Saints’ heads didn’t drop, however, and two minutes later they pulled level. Lallana fired home a Jay Rodriguez cutback to make the home team just the second side to score more than one against Arsenal in their last 22 league games.

Wenger’s men came close to going back in front when an Özil shot deflected off Fonte and looped on to the crossbar. However, hopes of eking a late victory took a major blow as Mathieu Flamini was deservedly handed a straight red card for a lunge on Morgan Schneiderlin – he may not have made contact but he was out of control and dived in with both feet.

Southampton pushed for a late winner, but were unable to find the answer as Arsenal dug in, Wenger taking off Cazorla for Kieran Gibbs as the visitors tried to cling on for the draw. Arsenal may not have travelled south hoping for a draw, but it was hard earned. Now all Wenger and his team can do is sit back and hope Tottenham and West Ham do them a favour against the chasing duo of Chelsea and Manchester City.
Guardian Service