Southampton will make the short trip to London to take on Arsenal this evening, with the clubs in contrasting form.
The Gunners come into the tie on the back of some shocking results, having lost six of their last eight in the Premier League, picking up just four points in that time.
The Saints on the other hand are flying high. They currently occupy fourth in the table, and a win could see them join Tottenham and Liverpool on points in first (Should the draw against each other this evening).
Obviously we can’t be allowing that to happen…
While Arsenal are in terrible form, and we are suffering, that can surely only go on for so long.
Pressure is definitely mounting on our manager, and the players must know that with the transfer window set to open in just over two weeks, some of them could well be replaced.
This team needs to start fighting for one another, fighting against their disgraceful league position, or fighting for the manager and the club.
I don’t personally care what it takes to get the team back on the winning side, be it personal or team goals, or fighting for various mixtures of the above, but we definitely need to see them battling for something.
If Arteta doesn’t manage to motivate his team to break free from their form today, he could well be out of a job before Christmas, but I’m relying on the players to save him from that tonight.
While anything less than a win will do little for our standing in the league, the players will need to be showing exactly why they deserve to be playing for Arsenal.
I feel like our team will have to overcome their confidence issues this evening, and a 1-1 draw feels like it is on the cards, but if the Arsenal of recent weeks remains from the kick off, Southampton could well win this convincingly.
Does the tide simply have to turn tonight? Or will this Southampton side be plunging a stake into the manager’s job security?
Patrick
I’ll go for a 0-0 I just hope we don’t lose again 😬
Hey Kev,
This might be unpopular, but I do fancy us to get goals in this game. Southampton are a pressing team and will therefore be open at the back, this is the perfect game to play Aubameyang through the middle and Pepe on the right as they will surely get spaces to run in behind-the problem is, do we have a good passer to exploit these spaces?
Unlike you, I do not think it would be a goalless draw as S’oton scores well at the moment. Maybe 2-2 or 3-2 in our favour…..COYG!!!
Hey Goonerboy.
It’s not unpopular mate I like your optimism, I think we all would love to see an open attacking game.. I just have no faith in our forwards, they couldn’t hit a barn door at the minute.. the only good passing is coming from out wide with Tierney and I must say Soares has a nice delivery too, but we have no one to lap them up. Let’s hope it all changes tonight 😄
I fancied 2-2 in my predictions, Kev. Mad?? Can you see us score 2??
I am more optimistic though as our midfield shouldn’t be as lethargic as usual 😉 There may be the odd through ball instead of back pass! Yay!!
2-2 Sue you honestly think we can score 2
😆 towny… just the one!!
Plus I’d say there’s more chance of Theo coming back to haunt us tonight than Iwobi on Saturday!
Arsenal 1-2 Southampton.
arsenal lack consistency and no one to score for all chances the team always created.
Arsenal has never lost 5 home games in a row.
Arsenal has never lost to Southampton at home in premier league.
Considering our record “breaking” season this is a “match” made in heaven.
Slaven Bilic has been sacked and Big Sam won’t be out of job soon.
Big Sam is now confirmed at WBA
WBA knows that they are a relegation team and needs a person who is expert in such a situation so decision making was fairly straightforward.
In our case we are still in a confused state. What are we? CL contenders? Top 6? Mid table? Bottom table? Relegation battlers?
At the moment one must admit that we are all of that as well as none of that. And that is definitely affecting decision making.
Great points
Heaven help us if we do actually need to employ Allardyce or similar
Not that bad I would say..Look ..3 teams get relegated every year..Any team with Big Sam at the helm will not be among them..As for ambition though…. thats another question
just like I recently posted, Arteta needs to attack, no matter what we need to score, an extra attacker like lacazet to play ss or CAM with 3 in the front and fullbacks joining. We have played defensive all season, though goals cooceeded reduced but goal drought is worst. Goal wins games failure to score is an open invitation for attack, if we had score early against burnley they wouldnt be courageous to attack even with a man advantage
We were not defensive against Fulham, Leeds (before the red) United, Leicester, Wolves, Sheffield, West Ham, Aston Villa, Spurs. In fact, these teams play defensive against us except Leeds and Villa, we have just been failing to score from the very little clear chances we manage to create. I hope everything comes out fine today and we get some luck.
Ill go for a 2 – 0 to soton
Maybe a 3-0, if they score first the flood gates could open.
The team will give up, there will be no fight, this wi be evident and Arteta will be sacked in morning.
Artera will not be sacked because that will make Edu and Vinai stupid.
I agree Vinod but maybe just maybe Kroenke will step in, and make the decision for them, his investment is on the line afterall.
Kev82,
Unless Kroenke makes an investment in the squad his club’s value will really be on the line
So can we fans sit back and say this is going to be a win-win situation for us?
The team either picks up form or an overhaul might happen.
I absolutely agree Sue, I can imagine with the economy a mess and Arsenal plummeting down the table his investment isn’t looking as profitable as it once was, and of course he’s not a man that likes losing money.
Kev, Kroenke is a real estate developer as well as owner of big sports enterprises.. His real interest is the Stadium. He may step in with some money but it will not be hundreds of millions. Just to put things into perspective his wife’s 9. 5 billion just increased by 2.5% this year so I don’t suppose he is concerned about Arsenal its small beer in his portfolio.
It’s difficult to predict what will happen right now Vinod, but I can’t believe Edu actually believes Arteta is doing a fine job, the team is a mess and sit 15th in the table with no signs of improvement, no one can be that out of touch and the owner has no loyalty to anyone at the club, as we’ve seen with the 55 redundancies including the dinosaur 🦖 I’m sure he’ll have no problem pulling the plug on Arteta.
@Kev82,
I have abandoned logic while thinking about the current state of our club, nothing seems logical anymore.
So I come up with this weird theory.
Arteta selects the same team week in week out to keep their transfer value up. He wants a clear out ASAP and wants to avoid fan backlash as well for selling most of the senior players.
If the Head man phones and say’s get rid. Edu cannot say anything if he say’s go he will go
May be if we score first we will win 3/0 as well.It’s a matter of confidence that turn things a round.Eventually they are the same team who beated city, liverpool thrice and chelsea.
Saka, Auba and Pepe in front of a midfield cosist of Elnenny, Niles and Ciballos to dominate the play and cope with the high tempo and vitality of Southmpton style of play. Fortunately,Beleren and Xaka wont show up for tonight.I agree with Goonerboy that we have to exploit the spaces perfectly when they are on attack.
I just want to say Xhaka hasn’t said he is sorry to fans for his madness and it has been more than 50 hours. Compare to Pepe’s action is shows he doesn’t give a damn about the fan.
I agree Mobella. It is not acceptable
And that is why I’m expecting Arteta never selects him for for first team again and if he does he will lose the remaining support I have for him. If he can kick out Guen for the same offense I except he should it to any player that put his job and team progress in jeopardy. It is good to show positive energy but show it in course of the game and to the advantage of your team.
I’m not surprised, Mobella. I read somewhere he’s been fined, will that be the end of it??
Sue, Pepe was also (reportedly) fined, but he made a quick apology after the incident. So the question is was he (Pepe) made to apologise or did he do it voluntarily?
If he was made to apologise then player “mafia” is prevalent.
If he did it on his own then that shows the character difference of the two.
Personally I never expected Xhaka will apologise. We saw the apology to fans after he told them to f*-off, and this was just an act against an opponent player that too an act committed out of “commitment” to the team.
A quick apology – which is how it should be, Vinod! I’d like to think he did it voluntarily, as that type of behaviour is not acceptable! And it’s your duty to apologise to us long suffering fans!!
As for Granit, look how long it took for him to apologise after losing the plot before! I highlighted earlier how he spoke of the importance of organisation, discipline and respect in the Burnley programme!! And previous to that how he sees himself as a leader!! Wow!! Well that’s come back to haunt him!!
For me, I’ve seen enough, he’s had enough chances. He needs to go…
Yes, the irony of speaking about leadership, organisation, discipline and respect is too much. He might be the real world “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”.
Xhaka should be kicked out of the club. He is an awful player, always has been. He offers nothing to this team at all!
I’ll go Arsenal “boring” Southampton give “100%”. We may win through luck but the hole deepens. Arteta is a master of delusional hypnotism. We have played rubbish from the first game of the season and need a person with less ‘talk the talk’ and more ‘walk the walk’ at the helm of the Arsenal ship.
I agree Sean, if we see same thing again the no matter if we win Arteta needs to go. Although we won FA cup but I hate the way we play specially against big clubs we always play like we are the underdogs…a small club.
I wish all the best to the team and manager. I want to see change in style of football, change in line up and change in Arteta’s attitude of shouting orders all the time. I want to see us play with out the hand break and without fear. I hope he does not put the same team out again which has Bellerin, Willian in it as Xhaka is out automatically. But he does the same what he has been doing and there is no change then he should be booted out even if we win because that will be just fooling ourselves. Come on Arteta even being one of your biggest critic I have put my one last hope on you that you will show us some change. Come on boys we need to end the year on high, COVID has already caused enough depression.
Bellerin is also suspended for this match, I think Pepe will start ahead of Willian or Pepe – Saka – Willian behind Auba.
1-0 to us with Theo scoring an OG.
I’d take that all day long 😂
Whatever happens, if this season continues like this I won’t be surprised if some of us become the next Guy Ritchie.😂
We must make sure we don’t give silly free kicks away near the box, Ward Prowse is on fire with his free kicks. Really hope ESR gets a game tonight, just think he brings something different to an attacking style. Hopefully won’t have to drink too much tonight!!
👍
Drop saka&we win