Arsenal have lost against Southampton 3-2 at the St Mary’s stadium to put an end to their 22 match unbeaten run. It was a debut today for Southampton’s new manager, Ralph Hasenhutti, who was the former manager of RB Leipzig in Germany. Hasenhutti had a perfect debut by helping Southampton get their first home win of the season and ending Arsenal’s streak.
In the first 20 minutes of the match, Southampton took the lead after Danny Ings beats Laurent Koscielny to the ball after a beautiful cross from Matt Target. Arsenal responded at the 28th minute with a header as well. Alex Iwobi takes on two Southampton players on the left and passes it to Monreal at the left flank, he crosses the ball and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scores with a header. This is only his third goal of the season in the League, hopefully he starts to find his form from his days at Borussia Dortmund.
In the 44th minute Danny Ings gives Southampton the lead at half-time. He scores from an exquisite dipping header that tricks Leno into thinking it was going out. The first half ends and Arsenal continue their horrendous first half form this season, still being unable to lead at half-time at all this season. For Southampton, the first half was fantastic for the club facing relegation this season, and Danny Ings is all to thank for his aerial threat. The second half begins and Hector Bellerin is subbed off for Alexandre Lacazette, could this be another injury for Arsenal?
In the 53rd minute Arsenal take the lead with a bit of luck on their side. Lacazette steals the ball and gives it to Mkhitaryan. He takes a shot that gets deflected but he get’s his second of the match, and his fourth of his season.
There’s another injury blow to Arsenal’s defense, with Stephan Lichtsteiner being subbed off for Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Southampton’s Stuart Armstrong performs a dangerous tackle on Lichtsteiner and the Swiss defender is down and a substituion is made at the 74th minute. Both Arsenal right backs are now injured, major blow for manager Unai Emery.
Southampton score but it is counted offside at the 78th minute, Leno stops the ball from the corner but it’s rebounded to a herd of Southampton players. Long scores but he is in a offside position. After a counter attack from Southampton in the 84th minute, the ball goes to Shane Long who performs an outstanding cross to Charlie Austin who heads it in. Terrible decision by Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno to come for the cross and to get beaten, Southampton score once again with another header. The match ends 3-2 to Southampton.
When the lineups were announced, most Arsenal fans could already expect a lost suffering a huge defensive crisis. With now playing in a 3-4-3 formation, Arsenal’s three starting center-backs are all out for the match with Rob Holding being out for the season with an injury, Mustafi both injured and suspended from the match, and Sokratis suspended too. Both Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal made their first Premier League starts since returning from injury and Granit Xhaka was put to play in center-back. Now both right backs Hector Bellerin and Stephan Lichtsteiner are injured as well, Arsenal need to seriously look into the January window to bring in 2 defenders to help the mess they have in the back. Arsenal now face their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspurs next on Wednesday, December 19 in the Quarter-finals of the EFL Cup. With this defensive crisis occurring, Emery will possibly need to change back to four in the back or bring up players from the academy to start the match if he sticks with three.
For Southampton, this for sure is their best game of the season. This is only their second win of the season and they jump out of the relegation zones now ahead of Burnley in 17th place. With their new manager Hasenhutti ending Arsenal’s streak, great things are ahead for Southampton as they are now in consideration of avoiding relegation. They face Huddersfield next week where they should be expecting to get a win and get farther away from the relegation zone.
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