So Arsenal have yet another must-win home game in our quest to keep our top four hopes alive, and as we are also looking for revenge over Southampton for our defeat at St Marys the three points will be even sweeter. In our favour the Saints haven’t beaten us in front of our own fans since 1987 so they have a lot of history to overcome.
In their favour, despite being embroiled in the relegation battle, they haven’t been beaten away from St. Mary’s since their shock win over us in December. Here is their last six away games…..
Yes they’ve done okay in their last four, but I am sure once they see our recent home form, they may not be feeling so confident. Here is our recent record….
In fact we haven’t lost at the Emirates in our last 12, since our opening day defeat to Man City, and we always seem to lift our game in front of our fans. The easy win over BATE in midweek was also a boost to the confidence, and the return of Sokratis to our back line will make it harder for us to conceded. I certainly expect the Greek to start today, especially as Laurent Koscielny is a doubt along with Maitland-Niles.
Everyone else seems to be fit, except for our long term casualties of Bellerin, Holding and Welbeck, and I expect Lacazette to also start after being banned on Thursday.
Despite changing to a back four for our attacking strengths against BATE, I think Emery will revert to his safety first back five line-up again today and also bring in a little rotation.
Leno
Lichtsteiner Mustafi Sokratis Monreal Kolasinac
Torreira Xhaka Guendouzi
Ramsey Iwobi
Lacazette
That may seem to be drastic changes, but after playing on Thursday night I am pretty sure that Emery had planned for this to keep our players fresh, and I think this should be more than enough to beat the Saints.
It’s about time Lacazette came good and he must be itching to play after a two-week break. My prediction is 2-0 to the Arsenal…