Arsenal now HUGE favourites to beat Southampton

Why Arsenal are Overwhelming Favourites against Southampton! by AT

Ahead of a very crucial Premier League game against Southampton at the Emirates, Arsenal have been handed a massive injury boost. Firstly, the French duo of Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny both successfully returned to the Gunners’ starting eleven against West Bromwich Albion over the weekend and fit in perfectly into the Arsenal system.

However, with respect to the game against Southampton in midweek, perhaps the biggest injury boost that has been handed to Arsene Wenger’s side is that Morgan Schneiderlin, unarguably the Saints’ best player so far this season, is out for the big game as a result of an abductor injury the French international had picked up during the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at St. Mary’s. The injury forced him to be subbed off and the Saints’ boss Ronald Koeman has now confirmed that the same injury will keep him out of the game against Arsenal.

Considering the rather fortunate turn of events, I fully expect Arsenal to win this game. Firstly, Giroud and Koscielny are back in the team and the pair are certain to start the game. In addition, players like Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are really hitting form and are sure to turn up for the big clash against the Saints. Needless to mention, Alexis Sanchez is in red-hot form and will be as dangerous as ever. Also, Arsenal will be in a confident mood following two successive wins and clean sheets against Borussia Dortmund and West Bromwich Albion.

A win for the Gunners can get the team to within three points of Ronald Koeman’s side, despite the horrendous start to the season. More importantly, this game offers Arsenal the opportunity to get their campaign back on track and build some much-needed confidence going into the busy Christmas period. With so many things going our way, here’s hoping the boys can get the job done when they take to the field against this season’s surprise package.

Anurag

Tags Giroud Koscielny Schneiderlin

31 Comments

    1. i hope the author of this article remembered to touch wood after writing this… Way too many things are taken for granted here… “players like Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are really hitting form and are sure to turn up for the big clash against the Saints.”
      Also just because they have lost arguably their best player so far this season doesnt mean they are going to lie down and be walked over…
      I am confident we can win this game, but i am expecting a close encounter. COYG

  1. We were huge favourites to beat man u, right?? 🙁 🙁 🙁
    please do it this time Wenger 🙁

  2. Disappointed to miss the game but it’ll be on at 4:45am over here. Interested to see who plays. Surprising to see the Ox benched at the weekend but was it because of the need to rotate the squad with two EPL games in a week ? Won’t be easy, even if Southampton didn’t look great against City. They did have an even better home record than Chelsea before that match but with them being away Arsenal should win. Time to see a top performance from Rambo. Of the first-teamers currently fit he’s been the disappointment so far. COYG !

    1. Actually not…we don’t need help…fair referring would help…I don’t mean to be biased, but a lot of 50:50 decisions go to our opponents…like in the BD game…luckly for us though lady luck was on our side in the 2nd minute..

  3. It’s December and we cannot afford to drop points now. The schedule is quite hectic and we must step up if we want to end well as we must be in top 4 by Jan and then fight for higher honours when all our injured players are back.
    COYG let’s do it tomorrow!!!!

  4. Huge favorites according to who? Arsenal were fortunate to squeeze a lonely win out of W. Brom and suddenly they are big favorites to beat one of the league’s top sides?

    When I see Ozil and Walcott back on the pitch, Ramsey back in form, and some new key defensive acquisitions – then I will believe this “huge favorites” thing.

    Until then, lets hope they go and fight hard for a win.

  5. It won’t make a huge difference that they’re missing one big name. One player doesn’t make a team. How many were Man Utd missing when they beat us on our on turf, and they weren’t any near in the kind of form that Southampton have been in. Also, how many are we still missing?

    For me, I make the Saints slight favourites, but hopefully we can get that win.

    1. True – they did not make their mark just on one player. But if you could pick one of their players to leave out – Schneiderlin would be a good choice for us.

  6. Man U game was only the second home EPL defeat since the start of last season (first game vs Villa) so Arsenal should be favourites. Two things in common with those defeats were that the opponent played entirely on the counter and had little possession.

  7. Of course we are favourites wtf?, no left back and Wenger just said the Ox is doubtful and Kosch also a possible doubt. And Southampton are not a one man team. This is a difficult game for us and a huge game moving forward. Ok spuds are away to Chelsea but then they have an easy home game against Palace while we are away to Stoke!

  8. In fact we were unlucky, against Mancity, Chelsea and Manu, there were incidents in those matches that basically cost us the game, but its the price you pay when you do not taking your chances.

    I am really interested in seeing that three man attack against the christmas run in,i feel we can gather maximum points in this run in with our attack, and i am far more confidence in the team with Kos back in the back four. Southampton beat us in the cup against a rusty attack who did not have much game time, it will be a different situation this time with arsenal gradually getting stronger, i expect a victory for arsenal whether southampton had Schneiderlin or not

  9. A team like Arsenal shouldn’t have to rely on an oppositions player being out injured to be favourites, especially when said team is Southampton.

    The fact the Arsenal fans are taking this as a major boost really emphasises how far we have dropped down the pecking order due to Wenger/The Board not bolstering this squad. If this article said “Arsenal now HUGE favourites to beat Chelski or Man City” because someone like Fabregas or Aguero is out injured then this would be a real moral boosting blog. As it stands it just reinforces my dissalusion with how this club is currently being run and our lack of apparent ambition moving forwards.

    I certainly won’t be taking this game for granted. You can’t really do that with any game, but Arsenal should be HUGE faavourites to win most of their games regardless, but we aren’t that team anymore.

    Hill-Wood has commented on those who raised the banner after the West Brom game and called those people ‘ignorant’. I think those people are more than entitled to raise a banner or say whatever they want considering they are the ones who pay all their hard earned money to see their big club compete. I think far too many of our fans are happy to accept fourth place and simply being able to play champions league football. Do these people remember how close we were to beating Barcelona? That was meant to be the start of something big for this club but we’ve got nowhere near since and have capitulated several times when the league looked as if we should go on to win it.

    I’ve always tried to remain positive over the last 10 years, Wenger did amazingly well to keep us competitive when the money wasn’t there and the big names were leaving every season, but now the corner has been turned I fear Wenger will only ever lead us to fourth now. His system has been found out, he can’t figure out or accept that it needs to be changed and it’s only once we have nothing to challenge for that we seem to be able to string together some results. Leading to the inevitable fourth place Arsenal trophy.

    I’m not calling for Wenger to walk away tomorrow. Arsenal need a plan, they need to find a manager worthy of this club. People may say it’s better the devil you know but then isn’t life about risks? Play safe, keep Wenger and keep fourth. Or take a risk, get a new manager, breath new life into the club, entice big game (not necessarily big name) players to the club who can make a difference. A manager that knows how to get the best from his players, knows how to adjust tactically when things aren’t working, a manager that makes Arsenal unpredictable! These are all things that I fear Wenger can no longer do for this club. All to often I watch a game and I can forecast the next 3-4 passes to be made because we are that predictable. If i can do it I sure as hell think the opposition can too.

    Without a doubt I can never thank Wenger enough for the memories he has left me with. But as with all things in life change is inevitable. It’s not until you embrace it that you can see it’s benefits.

    So it’s with sadness that i say “Arsenal are HUGE favourites to beat Southampton” for all the wrong reasons.

  10. You know what i always wondered? why do our full backs always overlap as if we’re a team that scores a lot of headers. I’m not saying they shouldn’t push to the half way line but I don’t think they should be playing attacking football (the full backs) when the stats say otherwise. Pass the ball to the front four (santi/sanchez/welbz/giroud) and get back down. if we can’t score with 3 up top and 1 attacking midfielder then we’ll never score but all this bombing forward (ahhhhem ramsay/gibbs) costs us many games.

  11. the only point you have chosen to ignore is Mr. Wenger’s comic surprises and shockers especially when it times to squad selections and timing of substitutions. that’s how we lost to an obviously weakened man. untd. Wenger has boxed us into a position in which all we wish for is a totally weak & hopeless opponents and there’s no honor there and such opportunities are so rare in the EPL

  12. @pythagoras…..they don’t get it….. What’s the point being HUGE FAVOURITES, when we could just become THE DARK HORSES!……smh

  13. I think this game is a little bit much for us at the mo. Southampton are playing some real good stuff and one player out for them is not the end of the world. I think we should set up a very hard 442 solid one and just take all they have and hit them on the break. Man U did it to us so why can’t we play like that and the world is ugly so what 3 ugly points are the same as any others

    1. I’m not convinced Wenger knows what a 4-4-2 is. That’s far to advanced and unpredictable for him.

  14. We were huge favourites to beat Anderlecht, Hull City United and Spurs @ Home and didn’t win any of them. Anderlecht we were up 3-0 and drew 3-3.

    Favourite means nothing, if Wenger doesn’t put the correct players in the correct positions and the players do not play their best.

    But we are on a 2 game winning streak

    Lets try to make it 3

  15. I won’t hold my breath, we couldn’t even beat Swansea and decimated Man U team. Most or if we are lucky a draw as Wenger is too comfortable in his job and he has become complacent because he knows he can never get sacked by the old guard football novice of a board at Arsenal. Lady Bracewell Smith former Arsenal board member with the highest share said the board members are too old and should all retire and let young fresh blood in to the board. She said she regrets selling her share to Kroenke. She had an inside knowledge of the board.

  16. We have to win tomorrow, otherwise it’s welcome to 10th place. Manure were lucky again, they shouldn’t have won. There can be no excuses tomorrow, it is a must win.

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