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A draw will feel like a defeat for both Southampton and Arsenal, even if the latter were two goals down with two minutes remaining. The pressure is building and a win at the Etihad is needed if the Gunners are to claim their first title in 19 years.
An alarming amount of red flags emerged during the event Arsenal’s dramatic 3-3 draw against Southampton. After being held up from the winning lead positions for two weeks in a row, the Gunners had to show they weren’t cracking under the pressure of the title race and going 2-0 down after 14 minutes against the bottom Premier League side showed they’re standing doing just that. It was an extremely worrying start to a game Arsenal were expected to navigate comfortably, meaning even if they rallied to win it would be a worrying performance.
Rob Holding’s presence in the squad changes things for Arsenal. William Saliba’s decline is huge and worrying for Mikel Arteta. Retaining Saliba gives the other team confidence, allows them to press higher than they would normally be able to and gives Arsenal less dominance when playing from behind. The England centre-back may not have been at fault for any of Southampton’s goals, but his lack of press stamina and inaccurate long balls allowed the visitors to punish the leaders.
With Granit Xhaka out with illness, Fabio Vieira came into midfield and had a night to forget; he wasn’t the only one. Aaron Ramsdale assisted Carlos Alcaraz for the opener with a horrific pass intended for Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Magalhaes was all over the place as Alcaraz slipped in ex-Gunners striker Theo Walcott to score a signature goal, leaving the Emirates crowd stunned.
Zinchenko called a post-goal meeting to try and figure out what the hell was going on, with Gary Neville stunned by Sky Sports’ co-commentary feature. Arsenal responded through Gabriel Martinelli, who tapped Bukayo Saka’s pass wide of the net to galvanize his team-mates and the home crowd.
Martinelli and Saka were the only good players for Arsenal in that first half. They had opposing fullbacks on the toast from the start and both helped Romain Perraud and Kyle Walker-Peters into the referee book with identical fouls.
Ali aside, Gabriel Jesus didn’t look brilliant, Ramsdale, Zinchenko and Gabriel were all red in the face from Southampton goals, Vieira was poor and Holding was out of his league. Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard were sloppy in possession. This was not the same Arsenal we have seen for most of this season. At least they wouldn’t surrender a 2-0 lead for the third game in a row.
The vast majority of the second 45 minutes went exactly as planned. Alcaraz was substituted at half-time despite him having one goal and one assist before ending his first half with a goalline clearance. Ruben Selles called on Lyanco to add another center fielder to the equation. Arsenal dominated possession as Southampton sat every player behind the ball. There wasn’t even much attempt to fight back. The bus was well parked and it took Arteta just 10 minutes to whisk away Vieira for another striker Leandro Trossard.
Arsenal failed to create much and Southampton grabbed their first and only chance of the second half. They won a corner after Partey was caught on the ball again. The aforementioned corner was won at the front post and sent perfectly into the path of Duje Caleta-Car, who had all the space he needed to head the ball into the back of the net. Zinchenko has been praised for his incredible ability with the ball but is clearly a player who can be exposed in defense and was the man who gave the Croatian international all that space to silence the home crowd once again .
The hosts looked exhausted after being 3-1 down, until the 88th minute when Odegaard scored a sublime goal. This kicked them in the butt before the starboy himself, Saka, scored to equalize. The Emirates exploded after it latched on to Reiss Nelson’s shot. Nelson will become an Arsenal legend having played a handful of minutes this season at this pace.
Eight minutes of added time would have seemed like 80 to the Southampton players, as Arsenal hoped for a win-win scenario. Arsenal came damn close to getting another one and it’s probably for the best they didn’t. The Emirates would not have survived.
The Gunners may have come from behind to show more signs of being minded monsters, but the red flags of this performance in their simplest – on paper – run-in encounter are a huge cause for concern. Giving yourself no choice but to win at the Etihad is not ideal. Arsenal lack any momentum in this daunting game, while Manchester City are on top of the world. Unless Sheffield United knock them out of the FA Cup.
Friday night is of course all about Arsenal and a third successive draw amid title fight pressure, but Southampton were excellent and will be heartbroken to leave the capital without all three points.
This result may have shown that Arsenal don’t have what it takes to achieve their ultimate goal, but it has shown that the Saints are capable of achieving their goal. Win or draw, Ruben Selles’ side had the boost needed to avoid relegation in the league.
READ MORE: Granit Xhaka to be Arsenal’s first casualty as Arteta seeks Guardiola ‘evolution’
