Playing a relegation-embroiled team like Southampton gave manager Mikel Arteta a chance to rotate his side in a few key positions. Raheem Sterling came in for Gabriel Martinelli at left-winger. Leandro Trossard was dropped to the bench, with Gabriel Jesus coming in for him. This forced Kai Havertz, who’s been excellent at striker, to drop back into the midfield as the 10. Jorginho also started in midfield, next to Declan Rice. Right-back Jurrien Timber, who’s been incredibly important of late, was unavailable due to the muscle injury he picked up against Paris-Saint Germain midweek. Arteta had to adapt with Ben White still out and Takehiro Tomiyasu working himself back into game shape, so he turned to midfielder Thomas Partey to cover the right. It’s a position he’s been asked to play before (a handful of times) with middling results. Since Arsenal have so many injuries, it was the right decision to rotate. The problem came when those individuals didn’t perform up to the standards and expectations of the team.

The first half was a bit of a disaster, as Arsenal had most of the possession and time on the ball but did very little with it. Bukayo Saka was getting double-teamed every time he touched the ball, which should’ve freed up space for the RB to attack or make an overlapping run. Thomas Partey did neither of those, leaving Saka extremely isolated. The few times the right-winger did have a moment on the ball to pick out a pass, there were no options available.

Gabriel Jesus wasn’t combining well with the Englishman, or with anyone for that matter. He was caught between two mind’s. Either get on the ball, beat his defender and find the runners or make the runs himself and find space between the Saints lines. He did neither. In about 60 minutes of action he only had 20 total touches and impacted the game very minimally.

Raheem Sterling was a bit more effective than Jesus, but not by much. He wanted to be on the ball, attack his defender 1-on-1 and either shoot or cross, which he did to an extent. Early in the match, he found some space and got in behind the defense. Saka’s pass found him darting into the box, but Raz wasn’t able to untangle his feet and get a shot away. There was a faint penalty shout, but on review there wasn’t enough contact.

Southampton did a great job getting their bodies in front of any Arsenal shot, blocking or clearing them out of bounds. This generated a handful of corner-kicks for the Gunners, a useful attacking opportunity.

The Saints must’ve planned for this and worked on defending them in the practices leading up to the match. They were very prepared and weren’t falling for any of the usual Arsenal tricks. Aaron Ramsdale, the former Arsenal goalkeeper, played big and punched away a number of crosses.

Southampton came into the Emirates Stadium, had a gameplan and stuck to it. Although, going forward their attack wasn’t doing much, as they kept trying to play out from the back and through the Gunners high-press. It didn’t work and the Saints weren’t in possession of the ball much. The one good chance they created came when a Saints player took a shot from the edge of the Gunners box, forcing David Raya into a comfortable save. Outside of the one shot it was a relatively uneventful half with Arsenal being extremely careless in the final third.

Arsenal, still sleep-walking for the early part of the 2nd half, was shocked into action after Southampton scored through a Cameron Archer goal (55th minute).

The action started when Saints midfielder Mateus Fernandes won the ball off Raheem Sterling, very physically, and pinged a long-ball over the top to Archer. He then headed the ball forward to run onto and put on a series of moves to free himself from centerback William Saliba and shot far post, beating David Raya for the opening goal. Both Gunners could’ve done better with Saliba staying closer to the striker and Raya cutting off the shooting angle.

The Saints had Arsenal right where they wanted them. Unfortunately, they pushed a little too hard and gave up their hard-worked lead quickly.

Bukayo Saka intercepted a pass around midfield, which kicked off the attack. The winger then took a couple of touches towards goal with all the defenders focusing on him. This gave Kai Havertz the opportunity to run into space at the top of the box. Saka found him and he shot perfectly past Aaron Ramsdale (58th minute). The one touch he took got the ball onto his favored left-foot and bought him some space to get a shot off. It was an exquisite piece of individual play and very necessary too, as Southampton sucker punched the Gunners in the face via the Archer goal and had them on their heels. The team really needed the goal to pick them up and instill belief back into the fans and team.

Mikel Arteta realized he needed to capitalize on the momentum shift and made a triple substitution (59th minute): Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Mikel Merino on for Sterling, Jesus and Jorginho. He was also shown on TV whipping the crowd into a frenzy. The team responded positively to the changes with the attack being much more fluid and dangerous.

The breakthrough goal came a few minutes later when Saka found Martinelli, who made a perfectly timed run.

The Brazilian found himself all alone at the far post due to the Southampton players all focusing on Saka, who was dribbling into the heart of the defense. The cross was absolutely perfect and dropped right onto Martinelli’s left-foot and he first-timed it past Ramsdale for the goal (68th minute). It was an immense moment of brilliance by both players.

Southampton manager Russell Martin responded by throwing players forward in an effort to find an equalizer, which they almost found through a long-range effort that hit off the post.

Late in the game, with about 10-ish minutes left, the Saints had their only corner of the match. The cross came into the box with David Raya missing his punch, it then bounced around for a second and was eventually hit off the post. It was a frightening moment of panic for the Gunners defense and goalkeeper.

The one Southampton player who was a pest for Arsenal all match was Tyler Dibling. He got the best of Riccardo Calafiori a number of times and fizzed in a couple of dangerous crosses that (thankfully) no one got on the end of.

Bukayo Saka finally killed the game off in the 88th minute when he shot past Ramsdale after Yukinari Sugawara took a heavy touch and lost possession inside the Southampton box. Saka reacted and pounced on the loose ball quickly, like the ice cold killer that he is. Leandro Trossard initiated the attack when he won the ball near midfield, drove straight at the defense and was dispossessed by Sugawara on the edge of the box. Game over, with 3-points in the bag.

Next up for Arsenal is the international break, with a trip to Bournemouth waiting for them on October 19th. Manager Andoni Iraola led the Cherries to their best-ever points total in 2023/24 with 48. So far this season they’ve had a mixed-bag of results with 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses. Scoring goals has been a bit of an issue for them, 8 goals in 7 matches. Their leading goal scorer is Antoine Semenyo, who has 3, and five other players have scored once. The defense hasn’t been much better, letting in at least one goal per match. Going to the Vitality Stadium will be a tough but passable test for Mikel Arteta and the Gunners. The biggest worry will be getting their players through the international break healthy, unlike the last break when Norwegian Martin Ødegaard went down with a serious ankle injury and hasn’t been able to play since, with no fixed date for a return.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!